Policy Changes and the Labour Force Participation of Older Workers: Evidence from Six Countries

2006 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Mandatory Retirement ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Workforce Aging

ABSTRACTIn response to the anticipated pressures of population aging, national governments and supranational bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU) have promoted policies to encourage the labour force participation of older workers. The recent elimination of mandatory retirement in Ontario is an example of such a policy, and others include changes to national pension systems and changes to disability and employment insurance programs, active labour-market policies, and the promotion of phased or gradual retirement. This paper reviews the different policy approaches taken in the six countries included in the Workforce Aging in the New Economy (WANE) project, placing Canadian policy approaches in relation to those taken in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. From the life course perspective, the policy approaches discussed here do not consider the heterogeneity of older workers' life courses or the related domains of health and family. As well, the changes made thus far do not appear likely to lead to increased labour force participation by older workers, and some may leave older workers at greater risk of low income and low-wage work.

scholarly journals Public Policy and the Ageing Workforce in the United States

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara E. Rix
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

Despite an ageing work force and the impending retirement of millions of baby boomers that could lead to serious labour, skills, and occupational shortages, older workers are not high on the policy agenda in the United States. Nonetheless, labour force participation rates for the older population have been rising, and public opinion polls reveal a sizeable demand for post-retirement employment. The challenge lies in meeting that demand and fostering longer worklives on the part of even more older Americans. A substantial public policy response is by no means certain, although raising the retirement age is likely to feature prominently in the debate on Social Security reform.

scholarly journals Towards gender equality in the labour markets of Canada, USA and Russia: an overview of progress in achievement of international commitments

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-50
Author(s):  
Maria Yu. Beletskaya ◽  
Elena A. Zotova
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Employment Of Women

In 2019, the International Labour Organization (ILO), together with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), prepared and presented to the G20 leaders a report entitled “Women at work in G20 countries: Progress and policy action”. According to the report, Canada, the United States and Russia show the lowest results among the G20 countries in reaching the goal of reducing the gender gap in labour force participation by 25 percent by 2025. This is largely due to the relatively high levels of gender equality that have already been achieved in these countries. The article analyzes the policy of Canada, the USA and Russia towards women at work in four directions: 1) measures taken by national Governments, in cooperation with social partners, to increase women’s participation in the labour force and to overcome cultural and behavioural barriers to the employment of women; 2) measures to increase women’s ability to earn decent wages, including through lifelong learning, upgrading qualifications and skills development; 3) measures to reduce the proportion of women employed in the informal sector and in low-paid jobs; 4) measures to protect women in labour market in order to encourage men and women to combine work and family and share family responsibilities equitably.

scholarly journals "If i had known our couple turned that way, i would not have stopped working" a biographical account of labour force participation and conjugal love

2013 ◽  
pp. 29-49
Author(s):  
Eric D. Widmer ◽  
Manuela Schicka ◽  
Michčle Ernst Stahli ◽  
Jean-Marie LeGoff ◽  
René Levy
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Evaluation Influence ◽  
Conjugal Love ◽  
Biographical Account ◽  
The Life Course

This study examines how the work trajectories of women and men after childbirth and their subjective evaluation influence conjugal love. Data are drawn from the study, «Social Stratification, Cohesion and Conflict in Contemporary Families» (Widmer et al., 2003). The results show that an interruption of labour force participation increases the risk of feeling less in love for women, especially if the interruption is perceived as a sacrifice. Women's feelings of love also depend on the way in which their male partners consider their own work trajectories. Men's feelings of love are much less sensitive to their own and their partners' work trajectories. The results are discussed within the life course perspective.

Commodification, vulnerability, risk: gendered social policy developments in the United States, 1980–2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Laperrière ◽  
Ann Shola Orloff ◽  
Jane Pryma
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The Us ◽  
The 1960S

AbstractOver the last few decades, the position of women vis-à-vis the welfare state has changed dramatically. Welfare states have adapted to women's increased labour force participation and to the “new social risks” that characterize postindustrial societies. In this paper, we examine gendered policy developments in the US, focusing on conceptions of vulnerability that inform policies meant to mitigate gendered social risks. Focusing on three policy areas: parental leave, domestic violence and disability, we show that policies increasingly target women's integration into the workforce and self-regulation as strategies to mitigate gendered social risk. We also discuss how these policies rely on individual interventions implemented by what we call punitive therapy practitioners, who encourage women's workforce participation and psychological self-regulation. Finally, we argue that enduring gendered conceptions of vulnerability have shaped the specific designs of policies that emerged in the 1960s–1970s, intensified through the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, and persist today.

scholarly journals EMPLOYMENT AFTER NORMAL RETIREMENT AGE: EMPLOYERS’ MOTIVES AND EXPERIENCES

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S129-S130
Author(s):  
Jaap Oude Mulders
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Mandatory Retirement ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Labor Market Dynamics ◽  
Employment Rates ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Retirement Systems

Abstract Due to population aging, older workers in developed countries are working much longer than previous cohorts. Some older workers even extend their careers beyond normal retirement age – or the age that is traditionally associated with retirement. While earlier work has studied employees’ motives and experiences while working after normal retirement age, motives and experiences of employers remain unexplored. Understanding employers’ perspectives is imperative for a better grasp of employees’ opportunity structures and labor market dynamics. This is especially relevant in countries with mandatory retirement systems, since here employer and employee need to negotiate a new contract after normal retirement age. I study employers’ motives to and experiences with employing older workers after normal retirement age using data from a 2017 survey among 1,312 Dutch employers. The Netherlands has mandatory retirement regulations but is also seeing an increase in employment rates after normal retirement age. Results show that 54% of employers have, in recent years, employed one or more older workers beyond their normal retirement age. This is especially common in education. 70% of employers are very positive about their previous experiences with employing older workers after normal retirement age, mostly because they had rehired older workers with unique knowledge and experience. However, employers also hardly ever took the initiative for such employment arrangements, instead leaving it to the older workers to show the desire to continue working. Although employers are largely positive, they see it as a limited phenomenon, and do not consider it a solution to labor shortages.

Lower workforce will impair global GDP trend growth

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transport Systems ◽  
Hysteresis Phenomenon ◽  
Job Seekers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
Discouraged Workers ◽  
The Impact

Subject Changing demography and socio-economic trends in the labour force. Significance Changes in immigration and societal factors are causing labour supply shifts in the EU and the United States. Alongside the debate over the state of the US economy, there has been discussion over the persistent decline in US labour force participation and the impact on the economy of discouraged workers, who may never go back to the labour force. The United Kingdom has experienced population gains and an acceleration in the birth rate due to net immigration over the last decade. Impacts A rising UK population will pressure an already tight housing market and transport systems. High social benefits paid to younger people while actively job-seeking will encourage registration, boosting the UK labour force. Higher cyclical unemployment might become structural through the 'hysteresis' phenomenon, as job seekers get discouraged.

scholarly journals Labor-Force Participation, Policies & Practices in an Aging America: Adaptation Essential for a Healthy & Resilient Population

Daedalus ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 144 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa F. Berkman ◽  
Axel Boersch-Supan ◽  
Mauricio Avendano
Keyword(s):  
Labor Force ◽  
Labor Force Participation ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Younger Workers

Population aging in the United States poses challenges to societal institutions while simultaneously creating opportunities to build a more resilient, successful, and cohesive society. Work organization and labor-force participation are central to both the opportunities and challenges posed by our aging society. We argue that expectations about old age have not sufficiently adapted to the reality of aging today. Our institutions need more adaptation in order to successfully face the consequences of demographic change. Although this adaptation needs to focus especially on work patterns among the “younger elderly,” our society has to change its general attitudes toward work organization and labor-force participation, which will have implications for education and health care. We also show that work's beneficial effects on well-being in older ages are often neglected, while the idea that older workers displace younger workers is a misconception emerging from the “lump-of-labor” fallacy. We conclude, therefore, that working at older ages can lead to better quality of life for older people and to a more productive and resilient society overall.

Age, labour market conditions and male suicide rates in selected countries

2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIP TAYLOR
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Male Suicide ◽  
Younger Workers ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Relationship

This study examined the relationship between suicide rates among men since 1975 and rates of unemployment and labour force participation in 20 countries. Previous research has found statistically significant correlations between suicide and unemployment rates over time among young people in a number of countries. This study has extended this research to include different age groups of men. The findings for younger workers largely confirm the findings of previous studies. Among older workers, however, unemployment and suicide rates are largely unrelated, notable exceptions including Japan and the USA. The implications of this finding for policy making towards older workers are discussed.

scholarly journals Policy Brief For “Flexible Aging: New Ways To Measure The Diverse Experience Of Population Aging In Scotland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen Spijker ◽  
John MacInnes
Keyword(s):  
Population Aging ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Population Ageing ◽  
Age Dependency ◽  
Female Labour Force Participation ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
Demographic Approach ◽  
The Uk

This ESRC-SDA funded project took a demographic approach using new metrics to studying population ageing. Key project findings mentioned in Policy Brief:• Until now, most notions of dependency are false.• As an average, the UK population is younger rather than older compared to 1950.• Old age dependency has declined rather than increased since 1980 as life expectancy at older ages and female labour force participation have increased.

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