The Center for Demography and Diversity at TU Dresden (CDD) and the State Statistical Office of Saxony organized the Saxon Data Salon for the 9th time this year on October 1, 2024, at which current key topics and challenges in Saxony are highlighted and possible solutions are discussed with an expert audience. Around 90 participants from politics, business, and science discussed issues that will become increasingly important in the future, especially for the Free State of Saxony. “Demography: Ideas. Perspectives. Potentials” – the title already reveals the focus of the event.
This year’s data salon began with 6 talks from various disciplines, which offered different perspectives on the problem of the existing, and reduction of skilled workers in Saxony in the future. The Statistical Office of the Free State of Saxony first presented current facts, and extrapolations on the development of the population structure in Saxony. The simulation clearly showed the population development in Saxony where low birth rates will already have far-reaching consequences, and consequently further reduce the availability of skilled workers in the future. The talks and subsequent poster session presented various proposed solutions to compensate for the consequences of the demographic imbalance in Saxony. In addition to the need for better support for families to promote the birth rate, the other ideas and measures mentioned focused primarily on senior citizens.
AutARK introduced the project topic with a poster and a presentation in a short pitch, presented current solutions, and discussed possible support options for autistic people, e.g. funding opportunities from the Federal Employment Agency. Our participation in the event gave us a completely different perspective and solutions for dealing with demographic change: The inclusion of people with impairments, disorders, or other, e.g. sensory difficulties, in the general labor market by providing needs-based working conditions and environments, is in many ways an inevitable step – not only towards equal participation but also with a view to the huge untapped potential that neurodivergent people, for example, have but are unable to fully develop due to inadequate workplace conditions.
The materials for the event are linked on the respective event page.