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Give older people a chance, says Minister Humphrey

by Barbados Today
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Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey says ageism is holding back older people in Barbados from making contributions and earning money, as he made a case for greater opportunities to be provided to seniors.

“The problem with Barbados in many cases is our mindset. People judge people for all kinds of reasons,” Humphrey said while giving his support to the National Insurance and Social Security (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the House of Assembly on Friday evening.

“We bring our limitations to people’s existence. So, you see a person now who is 60 and you say, ‘I want a job for so and so’ and they tell you that [person] is 60, they can’t do the work. But I have just said to you that the vast majority of Barbadians, at the rate that we are going, will soon be 60. Barbados is an aged society, so it means we have to find things for older people to be able to do and stop blocking them from having access to the resources that we make available to everybody else.”

Minister Humphrey used Japan as an example as he spoke about that nation’s efforts to take advantage of its “silver economy” – an economy which includes all those economic activities, products and services designed to meet the needs of people over the age of 50.

“As our society ages, we have to find ways to involve older people doing different things. It is not enough for us to accept that our society is ageing, and our systems have not advanced in a way that is commensurate with the rate at which our society is ageing . . . . In Japan, they have found a way to make the silver economy really mean something,” he said.

“They tell me that in Japan, they have hundreds of universities for older people . . . so people could learn new things. The Barbados Association of Retired Persons (BARP) is doing everything in their power to help retool older people. We have to open new spaces for them [and] as our population ages, I know these are conversations that we are going to have to have.”

Humphrey said re-tooling the elderly would be beneficial not only because it keeps them active but it can assist them to earn a supplementary income.

He noted that some 500 people over the age of 65 currently depend on grants from the Welfare Department and he expressed concern that as Barbados’ population continues to age, those numbers will increase, putting greater pressure on the system.

“If we get to a point where people are over 65, 67, or 68, where do you think they are going to end up? At some point, either we manage this social problem by applying smart, commonsense deeply rooted in economics and planning actuarial sciences solutions or we find ourselves dealing with a mass of people going before the Welfare Department at 67, 68 years old asking for financial support,” Humphrey advised. (KC) ]]>

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