The future for older workers: opportunities and constraints

Abstract

This concluding chapter reviews the common and emerging themes from the contributions to this collection and points to what are likely to be the key issues for older workers, their employers and their governments in the coming decades. Following an initial assessment of the concerns, problems and opportunities expressed by the contributors, the chapter is divided into four sections: first, a discussion of government policy and legislative developments that are changing the employment landscape for older workers; second, a consideration of the perspectives of employers as to the threats and opportunities they associate with an ageing workforce; third, an assessment of what older individuals themselves aspire to; and, finally, a conclusion about the main opportunities and constraints that an ageing workforce implies. Certain key themes emerge from the chapters in this volume, which should guide future research and policy development in the field. The first of these to note, which is easy to attest to and sometimes more difficult to genuinely build into research and policy, is the heterogeneity of older workers. The shorthand of an age cohort (50 years old and over) can all too easily lead us down the road of forgetting that, among those in this age bracket, we are talking about a number of different generations, individuals differentiated by gender, ethnic origin, levels of income, health status and domestic circumstances, never mind differences in outlook and aspirations. In the ESRC seminar series from which this volume springs, there were participants who wanted to reject the very notion of ‘older workers’ for this reason. However, other available terms, such as seniors (Aliaga and Romans, 2006), common in the United States, have yet to take hold in the UK context. The diversity of the older population must be acknowledged and explored in research and policy but another aspect is also worthy of attention; namely, that each generation faces different challenges with regard to continuing to work and to retirement timing. The economic, social and political context is not stable, and hence each generation has a different pattern of saving and pension entitlement and different expectations about extending or restricting working life, and faces varying retirement ages and pension values according to economic and political developments.

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