The impact of the ageing workforce on work injury and compensation systems in Australia

The Australian labour market is undergoing a large demographic shift. Between 1985 and 2008 the percent of the Australian labour force represented by workers over the age of 55 years increased from 9.2% to 15.2%. Despite this large demographic shift in the labour market very little attention has been paid to understanding the implications that the ageing workforce in Australia will have on occupational health and safety prevention programs and work-injury compensation systems. To address this need, the objectives of this research program are to examine trends in work injury rates and the consequences of work injury across age groups in Australia using self-reported labour market survey, and administrative workers' compensation data.