Problems and prospects for current policies to extendworking lives

This chapter condenses several of the key take-away points from earlier chapters on empirical, theoretical, and policy issues elucidated in Part One and provides readers with additional context to consider in their understanding of gender and health issues in the country-specific chapters upcoming in Part Two. First, we detail the central problematics associated with ageing populations and the policy initiatives taken so far to extend working lives. Next, we argue that for effective policymaking that would enable extended working lives, it is important to consider the interests of all of the actors affected and to pay attention to different problems that are highlighted by thinking through different levels of analysis—macro, meso, and micro. Further, we challenge the dominant rhetorical frame that policy initiatives undertaken recently have been about extending working lives, arguing instead that most countries’ initiatives have been about delaying retirement. This has been embodied by policies very different from those that would be needed to ensure that older workers can remain employed longer in dignified, appropriate, and adequately compensated jobs. Both gender differences and variations in health status differentially empower older workers to continue in employment. Finally, we conclude that research and policymaking that improves understanding and the potential for extended working lives is essential, and that it must be sensitive to variations among differently advantaged sub-groups of older people.