Late Working Life in Four European Countries: Policy Perspectives

Late Working Life in Four European Countries sheds new light on the role of life course factors on circumstances in late working life, including the impact of exclusion and inequalities on opportunities to prolong employment.

Focusing on Germany, Poland, Sweden and the UK, it distils the key findings from each country, delivering an up-to-date comparative analysis of the policies in the four contrasting countries. Enabling the development of best practice recommendations in relation to Extended Working Lives (EWLs) to inform policy discussions and developments and taking a life course approach to considering EWLs, chapters argue there is a tendency for policies to be too simplistic and cross-sectional, failing to sufficiently engage with the need to develop a systematic long-term life course focused approach to policy design. While the general impact of EWL policies on labour force participation among older workers has been explored, limited attention has been paid to the heterogeneous nature of this demographic group and the implications of their diverse life course experiences. Providing national case studies regarding EWLs policies and inequalities therein, these examples expose hidden inequalities among older workers and how these can be addressed.

Demonstrating the need to look beyond notions of late working lives in isolation and to explore the impact of longer-term life course orientated experiences, this collection addresses a major gap in the academic literature in social policy, employment, and ageing.

Rachel Crossdale is Research Associate based at the University of Sheffield, UK.

Liam Foster is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Sheffield, UK.

Alan Walker CBE is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerontology at the University of Sheffield, UK.