The future for older workers has recently become an issue of major concern to individuals, employers and governments. For many people confronted with diminishing pension savings or entitlements and extensions to state pension ages, the prospects for an early and smooth transition to retirement appear to be diminishing. For employers facing a more regulated labour market with the advent of age discrimination legislation and in the context of changing demographics and potential skills shortages, there is an increasing need to rethink their management of the older workforce. For governments, concerns about the tendency for people to retire earlier and live longer and the concomitant strains on the public purse in terms of state pensions and health service costs have fuelled an increasingly urgent commitment to ‘extending working life’. This volume brings together a range of up-to-date research findings by many of the leading writers and researchers on older workers. It examines, from various angles, the opportunities and constraints that face older workers in advanced post-industrial societies in the 21st century.

The book was inspired by a series of seminars, supported by a grant from the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), on the subject of ‘Employability of Older Workers’. The series identified a number of underdeveloped themes that are considered critical to extending working lives:

• • the heterogeneity of work experiences among the older population;

• • the impact of work culture and ageism on older workers’ employment participation;

• • the need to think about older workers before they become older;

• • the significance of choice and flexibility for older workers’ employment aspirations and well-being;

• • the strategic importance of work organisation and design in creating an older worker-friendly environment;

• • the crucial role that occupational health and welfare will have in sustaining decent working lives and providing opportunities for people to re-enter work;

• • the importance of extending training and career development opportunities through the work lifecycle.

This book seeks to pursue these themes from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on academic and policy-related research from the UK, mainland Europe, the US and Japan.

This opening chapter provides an introduction to the national and international context for the current interest and concern about older workers, herein defined as those aged 50 years and older.