Working on: choice or necessity?

Dr Pamela Clayton

Statistical Overview

The importance for European economies of people above retirement age

• Demographic change

• Skills shortages

• Pensions

Europeans working 65-69• Very few on average

• Top nation: Sweden

• Above average: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal and the United Kingdom

United Kingdom: predictive factors (1)

Kind of people likely to stay in work

Still working at retirement age

Parents’ social class (men only)

Having a small, not large, family

Little previous unemployment

Partner still working

Good health

Late starters

Living in affluent regions

United Kingdom: predictive factors (2)

Other factors

Amount of leisure

Attitudes to leisure

Attitudes to work

Qualifications

Job satisfaction

United Kingdom: motivations

Main motivations

Joint retirement

Work satisfaction

Financial

United Kingdom motivations: Yeandle

Yeandle’s classification (2005)

Career changers – want to try something new

Downshifters – want less stress or more autonomy

Identity maintainers – use existing skills in another

setting

Workers till they drop – low paid workers who have to

work until they are forced to stop

United Kingdom motivations: CROW

Centre for Research into Older Workers classification (CROW) (2004)

Choosers – usually highly qualified, will work if it is

interesting

Survivors – no qualifications, little choice about staying

or leaving

Jugglers – mainly women, medium qualifications – least

likely to stay on

United Kingdom motivations: financial

Financial reasons

Choice – could manage without work but wish to work,

e.g. to increase pensions or savings

Necessity – to avoid poverty (especially women), where

savings are low and no occupational pension

United Kingdom motivations: work (1)

Job satisfaction

Attractiveness of work – more autonomy – especially in

self-employment

Work-life balance – most work part time

United Kingdom motivations: work (2)

Elementary occupations

Little choice for low-qualified workers

Meeting people

Less responsibility

A change is as good as a rest

Real Lives: 9 case studies (1)

Predictive and motivational factors shown

Skilled working class or middle class but not wealthy background, 4/9

Professional qualifications, 5/9

Still in the same job, same employer, 4/9

Job satisfaction, 8/9

Maintaining professional identity, 1/9

Divorced women, 4/9

Real Lives: 9 case studies (2)

Predictive and motivational factors shown

Late starters, 2/9

Self-employed, 4/9

Likes company, 3/9

Financial need, 2/9

Work ethic, 5/9

Enabling factors

Factors amenable to policy intervention

Education, qualifications and access to skills enhancement

Employers’ attitudes and policy

Health

Government policy

Vocational guidance and mentoring

Enabling factors: education

Education, qualifications and access to skills

Generally, higher educated more likely to continue

Difficult for older people with low education / skills to

access VET

Need for computer skills

Skills obsolescence, not age, impairs productivity

Enabling factors: employers (1)

Attitudes and policies of employers

Anti-ageist attitudes and practices

Flexibility

Good working conditions

Enabling factors: employers (2)

Anti-ageist attitudes and practices

No fixed retirement age

No discrimination in recruitment

No discrimination in training

Enabling factors: employers (3)

Flexibility

Mainly manifested in part-time working

Adaptations for disabled workers or those with health problems

Flexi-time for carers

Enabling factors: employers (4)

Good working conditions

More autonomy

Trust

Control over work

Being appreciated

Enabling factors: health

Health

More prosperous countries report better health

Health problems greatest barrier to work (but some in

poor health carry on working)

Health and safety at work

Enabling factors: government policy (1)

Policy areas

Pensions

Adult education

Health

Anti-discrimination legislation and enforcement

Enabling factors: government policy (2)

Pensions

Incentives through state pension schemes (benefits of

deferral)

Allowing employment while taking state pension

Allowing people to take occupational pension and stay

working with same employer

Enabling factors: government policy (3)

Adult education

Funding for adult education

Funding for re-skilling or learning new skills

Enabling factors: government policy (4)

Health

Enforcing health and safety at work

Diminishing class inequalities

Providing measures for the physical and psychological

well-being of workers

Supporting carers

Enabling factors: guidance

Guidance and mentoring

Financial advice

Educational guidance

Guidance for career change

Guidance for labour market re-entry

Advice on self-employment

Planning for retirement

Conclusion (1)

Factors to consider

Characteristics of post-retirement workers

Working life

Employer attitudes

Heterogeneity of older people

National/local factors

Conclusion (2)

Necessity or choice?

Leisure after working life should be a right

Continued working should be a choice

Choice is a luxury denied to many

Employers and government can have some effect on

increasing post-retirement working

Other alternatives – voluntary work

Finally

In memoriam: Geoff Ford