Despite a growing global population, the availability of skilled workers is actually shrinking, and no longer just in advanced, aging

countries such as Japan and Italy. Now, some emerging markets, such as China and Russia, are also feeling a demographic pinch. The data suggests that this is only the beginning. A demographic divide will soon arise between countries with younger skilled workers and those that face an aging, shrinking workforce. The war for talent will become increasingly acute in certain sectors, especially areas requiring high skill levels and more education. More specifically, we expect:

Labor force demographics will shift profoundly

Despite projected growth in the global population from 6.9 billion in 2010 to 7.6 billion in 2020, the working-age population is expected to decline in many countries. Japan already has more people exiting the workforce than there are workers prepared to enter it. In the European labor market, 2010 marked the first time more workers retired than joined the workforce. While this labor gap is a relatively manageable 200,000, it will surge to 8.3 million by 2030. By the end of this decade, other large economies such as Russia, Canada, South Korea and China will also have more people at retirement age than are entering the workforce. Other, younger countries stand to profit from those trends. One-third of Indias population is now under the age of 15. Other emerging market economies with young labor forces such as Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia may benefit from a demographic dividend, a surge in productivity and growth as those workers join the labor pool. But the dividend pays off only if the country provides its youth with adequate educational and economic opportunities to develop their skills.

There is a growing mismatch between the skills employers need and the talent available
An estimated 31% of employers worldwide find it difficult to fill positions because of talent shortages in their markets, reports the 2010 Talent Shortage Survey from Manpower, an international employment agency. When it comes to attracting employees with critical skills, the task becomes even more challenging. Today, 65% of global companies and more than 80% of companies in fast-growth economies are having problems finding employees with the skills they need, according to Towers Watson, an HR consultancy. Why cant companies find the right talent despite the growing ranks of college-educated workers and the high unemployment in some of the best-educated markets? Problems attracting critical-skill employees

Part of the answer has to do with the rising skill level needed in the evolving global economy. Another element is the failure of educational systems to produce an adequate base of talent to meet these changing needs. Although educational access is growing worldwide, not enough students graduate with the skills desired by global employers.

Generation U and women to fill the skills gaps

Desperate for workers, many companies will become more accepting of diverse employees, particularly older workers and women. The leading US advocacy group for retired people, the AARP, believes that 80% of baby boomers will keep working full- or part-time past their current retirement age. The Pew Research Center predicts that Generation U (unretired) workers will fuel 93% of the growth in the US labor market through 2016.

Women, an increasingly well-educated source of talent, have entered the workforce in ever greater numbers in recent decades. However, their talents are still often underutilized. This is particularly true in societies with traditional views of gender roles, including many fastgrowing economies.

The talent market is increasingly global and mobile

Economic development and greater integration across markets in the past few decades have caused many talented people to explore career opportunities overseas. Cross-border migration has grown 42% in the last decade, from 150 million to 214 million, with most of the traffic directed toward OECD countries. Higher unemployment in developed markets has discouraged many migrants recently. Between a lack of opportunity and local hostility to migrant workers, more would-be migrants are staying home. New legal restrictions also have created a disincentive. As the economy recovers, however, demand for labor is expected to bounce back and migration along with it. Some countries have taken initial steps to soften or reverse restrictive policy changes that they implemented at the height of the recession. The dramatic growth of emerging market countries is also beginning to change migration patterns. Although developed markets are still a top choice for economic migrants, we are increasingly seeing reverse migration as well. According to the World Economic Forum, The return migration of highly skilled workers to their home countries is a growing trend for emerging countries.

Employees gain more bargaining power

Over the past 20 or 30 years, the bond between company and employee has weakened, even in corporate cultures where loyalty was once prized. Fast-changing company needs and a desire to cut costs led first to more frequent layoffs, and then to nontraditional relationships where the expectation was not decades of service, but only a few years. In a period of high unemployment, this new social contract is an advantage for the employer. But as the market turns, skilled employees should benefit. They will want a better understanding of their employment options and a greater say in how work is assigned, assessed and rewarded.

The employer will no longer define the workplace; rather, employees priorities and preferences will dictate what the future workplace will look like, particularly now that technology makes it easier than ever to design a variety of flexible arrangements. Companies operating in aging societies will have to craft methods to engage or re-engage the experienced base of talent. Companies that fail to respond to this change and do not succeed in redefining their employee value proposition will fail to attract, retain or develop talent effectively.
Accelerated population ageing experienced in the last few decades is an unprecedented phenomenon. Currently, this is more in the developing countries. Soon three-fourths of the elderly will be in the developing world. From 1990 to 2025, the elderly population in Asia will rise from 50 per cent of the world's elderly to 58 per cent, in Africa and Latin America from 5 to 7 per cent, but in Europe the figure will drop from 19 to 12 per cent of the world's elderly. The life span has increased in India from 32 yr in 1947 to more than 62 yr now. From the morbidity point of view, almost 50 per cent of the Indian elderly have chronic diseases and 5 per cent suffer from immobility. There are several vulnerable groups and a big disadvantaged lot are elderly females who are one of the fastest growing segments, which will increase to become 4 times the current figure, by 2025. In spite of professional disinterest in the speciality, recent trends indicate the beginning of sensitization of medical teachers, advancing speciality of psychosocial gerontology and availability of some research funds. Importance of training of health professionals and priorities in gerontological research are also under consideration. Infections still take a heavy toll of our elderly population apart from well known degenerative disorders. Limitations of a developing country further influence the morbidity pattern in various ways. Nutritional deficiencies are common and often subclinical thus escaping the desired interventions. Coronary heart disease, hypertension, mental and many other disorders in the elderly have been reported as isolated observations highlighting differences from those made in the Western countries. Socio-economically, the traditional support of extended families is rapidly undergoing erosion making the elderly further vulnerable. This causes more emotional and psychological problems while the State finds itself helpless in providing a comprehensive care to its large chunk of elderly population. It will be important to surmise and predetermine the future factors that are going to modify the diverse patterns of morbidity, disability and mortality in regional context.

Ageing (British English) or aging (American English) is the accumulation of changes in a person over time.[1] Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand. Research shows that even late in life, potential exists for physical, mental, and social growth and development.[citation needed] Ageing is an important part of all human societies reflecting the biological changes that occur, but also reflecting cultural and societal conventions. Roughly 100,000 people worldwide die each day of age-related causes.[2] Age is measured chronologically, and a person's birthday is often an important event. However the term "ageing" is somewhat ambiguous. Distinctions may be made between "universal ageing" (age changes that all people share) and "probabilistic ageing" (age changes that may

happen to some, but not all people as they grow older including diseases such as type two diabetes). Chronological ageing may also be distinguished from "social ageing" (cultural ageexpectations of how people should act as they grow older) and "biological ageing" (an organism's physical state as it ages).[citation needed] There is also a distinction between "proximal ageing" (age-based effects that come about because of factors in the recent past) and "distal ageing" (age-based differences that can be traced back to a cause early in person's life, such as childhood poliomyelitis).[3] Differences are sometimes made between populations of elderly people. Divisions are sometimes made between the young old (6574), the middle old (7584) and the oldest old (85+). However, problematic in this is that chronological age does not correlate perfectly with functional age, i.e. two people may be of the same age, but differ in their mental and physical capacities. Each nation, government and non-government organisation has different ways of classifying age. Population ageing is the increase in the number and proportion of older people in society. Population ageing has three possible causes: migration, longer life expectancy (decreased death rate), and decreased birth rate. Ageing has a significant impact on society. Young people tend to commit most crimes, they are more likely to push for political and social change, to develop and adopt new technologies, and to need education. Older people have different requirements from society and government as opposed to young people, and frequently differing values as well. Older people are also far more likely to vote, and in many countries the young are forbidden from voting. Thus, the aged have comparatively more political influence.[citation needed] Recent scientific successes in rejuvenation and extending a lifespan of model animals (mice-2.5 times, yeast -15 times, nematodes-10 times) and discovery of variety of species (including humans of advanced ages) [4] having negligible senescence give hope to achieve negligible senescence (cancel ageing) for younger humans, reverse ageing or at least significantly delay it. In spite of the developments mentioned above and the fact that ageing is admitted to be the major cause of mortality in developed world [5][6] the anti-ageing and life extension research is greatly underfunded.[7] Although human life is declared to be a basic value in many societies there is still no strong awareness and thus demand of the society to cancel human aging.[8]