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Companies and Older Workers: Obstacles and Drivers of Labour Market Participation in Recruitment and at the Workplace

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Paid Work Beyond Pension Age

Abstract

For a long time, the labour market participation of older workers in many European countries was low. However, during the past decade it has increased substantially in most countries (Dietz and Walwei 2011: 363). This trend reversal was, amongst others, brought about by the discussion of demographic scenarios. A number of changes in national labour market and pension policies have resulted from this, stimulating changes in individual retirement behaviour and leading to later retirement. Much empirical research has been done on all these factors to show that (early) retirement regulations can discourage older workers from remaining in the labour market (Immergut et al. 2007; Saint-Paul 2009; Hamblin 2010), or that personal choices are motivated by individual factors and social contexts (Schils 2008; Engelhardt 2012: 550). Recent studies also broach the issue of macroeconomic conditions (Szinovacz et al. 2014; van Rijn et al. 2014) or carve out the influence of cultural settings (Jansen 2013).

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  1. Jutta Schmitz
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  1. University of Bremen, Germany

    Simone Scherger

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© 2015 Jutta Schmitz

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Schmitz, J. (2015). Companies and Older Workers: Obstacles and Drivers of Labour Market Participation in Recruitment and at the Workplace. In: Scherger, S. (eds) Paid Work Beyond Pension Age. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137435149_10

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