An article examined four major national social surveys that explored the working and living conditions of workers in paid employment after the state pension age. In order to accommodate older workers in the workplace, more attention might need to be placed on informal as well as contractual arrangements of flexible working. Beyond part-time working, older workers rarely took up additional or alternative flexible working arrangements. At the same time, older workers continued to experience housework as burdensome, while in partnered households the gendered division of domestic labour prevailed.
Source: Andreas Cebulla, Sarah Butt and Nick Lyon, 'Working beyond the state pension age in the United Kingdom: the role of working time flexibility and the effects on the home', Ageing and Society, Volume 27 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Nov
A think-tank report examined how the existing tax-benefit systems in Britain and Germany would have to be reconstructed in order to allow the labour market to cope with ageing societies. For older unemployed workers, targeted wage subsidies could be an efficient alternative to the British model of flexible market wages.
Source: Richard Blundell et al., Optimal In-work Support and Employment in Ageing Societies: Britain and Germany Compared, Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society (020 7823 1123)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Sep
Researchers examined how employers were responding to an ageing workforce, particularly in response to the introduction of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 which outlawed age discrimination in the workplace and in vocational training in October 2006. Economic pressures appeared to be encouraging employers to adopt more age-friendly practices, especially around retention and flexible working, both of which were reported to be increasing: but it might be necessary to reinforce messages about age discrimination in areas like redundancy and early retirement.
Source: Stephen McNair, Matt Flynn and Nina Dutton, Employer Responses to an Ageing Workforce, Research Report 455, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2007-Sep
An article said that people from different social and occupational backgrounds not only conceived work and retirement in different ways but also had contrasting opportunities to continue in occupations after retirement age.
Source: Jane Parry and Rebecca Taylor, 'Orientation, opportunity and autonomy: why people work after state pension age in three areas of England', Ageing and Society, Volume 27 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
A new book examined the issue of older workers. It considered what workers over 50 wanted – the opportunity to retire early, to retire gradually, or to carry on working; the impact of an ageing workforce on employer policies; how the government would promote the benefits of extending working lives; and what support older workers and their employers would need from the government's pension, taxation, and benefits regimes.
Source: Wendy Loretto, Sarah Vickerstaff and Philip White (eds.), The Future for Older Workers: New perspectives, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Jul
A report said that employers who had chosen to operate without a fixed retirement age were overwhelmingly pleased with their decision.
Source: Freda Line, The End of the Line for Retirement Ages: The business case for managing without a retirement age, Employers Forum on Age (0845 456 2495)
Links: Report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Jul
A paper examined how spouses in older couples reacted to 'shocks' or 'surprises' in their partner?s labour income, using data from the British Household Panel Survey 1991?2004. Wives? labour supply proved to be much more sensitive to shocks than husbands?.
Source: David Haardt, Older Couples? Labour Market Reactions to Family Disruptions, Working Paper 2007-08, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2007-Apr
An article examined the contractual analysis of retirement and the potential influence of past judicial approaches in the new era of statutory prohibition on age discrimination.
Source: Claire Kilpatrick, 'Age, retirement and the employment contract', Industrial Law Journal, Volume 36 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Mar
A new book examined how people coped with the transition from work to retirement. It also explored the gap between the need of increasing numbers of older people to extend their careers, and a prevailing business culture where companies insisted that no employee had the right to carry on working after 65.
Source: Richard Tomlinson, Late Shift: The death of retirement, Politico's Publishing (0870 850 1110)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Mar
