EUROPE: Scientists getting older

Europe's scientists and technicians are getting older, casting doubts over the European Union's ambitions to lead the world in industrial and technological innovation by 2010. The development, picked up by the EU's Eurostat statistical service, suggests a likely fall in the number of scientifically qualified people at work in Europe over the next few years – together with a possible diminution in their ability to contribute to industrial competitiveness as older workers tend to be less mobile and less flexible than younger ones.

Faced with ageing populations, EU member states should pay special attention to human resources in science and technology (HRST) to ensure that the Union's drive in this sector is not blunted, European Commission officials warned following the release of the figures.

The Eurostat survey finds that the proportion of HRST in 2006 aged 45-64 ranged between 30% and 50% in the 27 EU member countries. Of 85 million HRST aged 25-64, almost 40% were in the 45-64 age group with Finland, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria at the top of the age league with 46% of their scientists and technically qualified workers in the older age group.

"It is generally acknowledged that the ageing in these countries is mainly due to the large post-war generation of baby boomers growing old," said a Eurostat memorandum. At the other end of the scale, Spain and Ireland had the lowest proportion of senior HRST at 30%, and a relatively high number of younger (25-34) scientists.

The study found that "senior employed HRST aged 45-64 were less mobile than younger employed HRST". At EU level, the job-to-job mobility rate for all employed HRST was 6.2% but the rate for older people was only 2.9%, it said.

This was less true of Denmark and the UK however where senior scientists were relatively mobile "possibly due to their flexible labour force policies that encourage mobility." The researchers commented that mobility was an important objective of the EU's growth and jobs (Lisbon) strategy "as mobile science and technology human resources contribute to better knowledge transfer between industry, academia and research organisations, which in turn is expected to lead to increased innovation."