Employers' Adjustment to Longer Working Lives

Construction Accidents in Spain: Implications for an Aging Workforce

Construction workers are getting older. In the European Union, the percentage of workers over 50 grew from 24.7% in 2011 to 31.5% in 2018, in Spain from 20.4% to 31.2%. Objective. Identify trends and detailed patterns of accidents of older construction workers compared to other age groups. Data and Method. We analyzed construction accidents in Spain from 2011 to 2018 (N = 455,491). The number of accidents and lost working days (LWD) were broken down by occupation, seniority, company size, temporal variables (weekday, hour), trigger, and body part injured and compared for different age groups. Results. Although older worker had fewer accidents, the consequences of accidents were more serious. Those over 50 years had 84% more lost working days (LWD) than those under 24 years, 48% more than those between 25 and 39 years, and 21% more than those between 40 and 49 years. (1) Occupation: the percentage of accidents grew with age for supervisors, lorry drivers, and bricklayers. (2) Seniority: the least experienced (less than 6 months) and the most experienced (more than 6 years) had the most LWD. (3) Company size: there are 24.5% of accidents in companies of less than four workers. (4) Trigger: older workers suffered more falls, both from height and at the same level. (5) Time: the percentage of accidents in those over 50 was higher on Thursdays and Fridays, in the afternoons from 4 to 7 p.m., and after four hours of work. (6) Injury: this shows the longest absences for shoulder injuries for those over 50 years, with an average of 70 LWD.

The retention of older employees and core work activities: Evidence from Denmark

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Retention of older employees in the labour market is crucial to cope with ageing populations. Retention of older employees can appear in different forms, such as phased retirement, bridge jobs, career development, or health promotion. However, little is known about how the offering of these retention strategies may vary across workplaces with different core work activities because the opportunities to implement different types of retention strategies are preconditioned by differences in the economic and labour market climate.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

The study utilises data from a survey conducted among Danish workplaces in 2018, which is linked to administrative register data to conduct KHB-corrected logistic regression models. The study distinguishes among production workplaces, service and welfare workplaces, and information workplaces.

RESULTS

Phased retirement is most prevalent in service and welfare workplaces, whereas job bridging is most prevalent in both service and welfare and production workplaces. Career development and health promotion strategies are most prevalent in information workplaces. These retention differences between workplaces with different core work activities are in most cases explained by differences in trade union influence, physical working demands, and knowledge intensity.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Although the type of retention strategy offered in the workplace largely matches the core work activity within the workplace, particularly production workplaces could feasibly take more advantage of using career development or health promotion strategies since the employees of these workplaces are more likely to retire early due to poor health and physical working conditions.

A systematic review of causes of recent increases in ages of labor market exit in OECD countries

Ages of labor market exit have increased steadily since the late 1990s in OECD countries, but with continuing population aging, there are calls for further stimulation of labor force participation at older ages. Social scientists have extensively studied causes of variation in retirement timing between individuals and across countries, but have paid less attention to causes of variation over time. This study systematically reviews evidence of causes of increases in ages of labor market exit over the past 30 years in OECD countries. Two goals are pursued: first, to provide an overview of the retirement domains that have been subject to investigation; second to compare studies with respect to the magnitude of change in retirement behavior that they attributed to different causes, in different contexts. Nineteen studies were reviewed. Available evidence articulates itself around four domains: inter-cohort changes in labor force participation of women (3 studies), educational attainment (3 studies) and lifetime wealth (1 study), and changes to social security systems (16 studies). Determinants in all domains explain a significant amount of past increases in ages of labor market exit, though figures attributable to similar determinants vary between studies and across countries. Evidence suggests that further postponement of labor market exit may depend on further increases to normal retirement ages and more limited access to early retirement programs, but also on further increases in educational attainment and the continued integration of women in the labor market. However, a large share of the past increases in ages of labor market exit remains unexplained; therefore, other factors such as those related to work and organizational characteristics deserve further research.

Now What? The Lived Experience of Women Forced to Retire and Implications to Health in Later Life

Women in the United States are retiring at an unprecedented rate, with many retirements driven by recent economic downturns and social expectations, such as caregiving. Successful retirement transition is a key component of happiness during older adulthood, but many factors suggest that forced retirement may have a negative impact on health. The purpose of the current research study was to explore the lived experiences of women who were forced to retire. The current study population comprised 10 women, age ≥55, recruited from community settings to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. Participants shared common experiences, despite having different reasons for retiring. The overarching theme of Now What? Denied the Opportunity to Mentally Prepare was identified. Findings suggest opportunities for nurses to assess women for mental and physical health indicators and assist them as they transition into retirement, particularly if the retirement was unplanned. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 57(10), 12-16.].