With life expectancy increasing, and changes to public policy aimed at encouraging older workers to stay in the workforce, the conditions under which people decide to retire have changed in recent years. This report describes the characteristics of those who continue to work beyond the age of 65. The findings show that two groups of workers, in…

A study examined the perceptions, policies, and practices vis-a-vis older workers in American business today. The study population consisted of executives with senior responsibility for making human resource decisions at 400 companies. The companies were selected randomly, with 100 each belonging to one of four size groupings ranging from 50 to…

Figures for Japan show that the percentage of people aged 55 and over will rise from 17.6 percent in 1980 to 32 percent in 2010. Employers show little concern about the aging of the work force and are accustomed to providing training geared to older workers. The government supports the employment and training of older workers through the…

During the last century the population over age 65 in America has increased fourfold. This dramatic increase requires careful economic and social planning and preparation by society, and consideration of specific programs and policies by Congress. Areas needing special consideration are: (1) employment and retirement; (2) allocatoin of health care…

A model for examining the two basic approaches of encouraging later retirement is presented in which the coercive approach relies primarily on negative incentives such as benefit reductions, and the voluntary approach encourages continued employment through positive incentives and increased employment opportunities. The degree to which these…

Figures for the United Kingdom show a slight increase in the population aged 55 and over. The number of people at or about retirement age has been slightly declining in the last decade; there is no "bulge" creating increased demands for employment and training. The British government has proposed a new Training for Employment program,…

A study was conducted to determine the role of the older worker in the American labor force, to analyze reasons behind the changing role of the older worker, and to make recommendations for employers, unions, and the government on age-neutral personnel policies responsive to the needs of an increasingly older work force. Data on the demographic,…

Unemployment compensation in the United States is provided through a federal-state system of unemployment insurance (UI). UI provides temporary partial wage replacement to active job seekers who are involuntarily out of work. For older workers, UI is an important source of income security and a potential influence on work incentives. For example,…

The need for a national policy for the development and use of human resources is evident. One part of the human resource development issue centers around the needs of adult workers who are unemployed or threatended with unemployment because of structural changes in the labor market. The issue of retraining adult workers was examined in detail in…

A study analyzed the changing nature of older persons in the labor force, factors that may affect their work decisions, and policy changes that could facilitate their continuation or reentry into the work force beyond the normal retirement age. Data examined during the survey indicate that while the number of people aged 65 and older is continuing…

A Labor Department task force examined issues relating to the United States' maturing labor force and outlines policy alternatives to address those issues. Major findings were summarized in three categories: (1) in tomorrow's work force, the median age of workers will be higher; older people will be healthier, live longer, and be available for…

Analysis of the costs of employing older workers indicates that some types of employment costs do vary by age and that overall compensation costs increase with age, largely because of increasing employee benefit costs. There is, however, no statistical evidence that direct salary costs increase by age on an economy-wide basis. The belief that…

The population of the United States is aging and will age even more rapidly in the coming years. Yet our public and private retirement and benefits policies continue to favor early retirement--in spite of clear demographic trends, in spite of legislation raising the mandatory retirement age from 65 to 70, in spite of the fact that many of our…

Research synthesized from three studies of the Finnish labor market indicates that a rapidly changing working life in Finland (and the rest of Europe) sets many different challenges for the workforce. In Finland, the population is even more aged than in the other European Union (EU) member states, and the transition of older workers to retirement…