Beroepsdeelname van ouderen. Een vergelijking tussen Europese landen

Abstract

Even though labour market participation of older women and men has been increasing all over Europe during the last few decades there are still major differences by country and by gender. This article discusses the relation between these differences in labour market participation and institutional arrangements in the field of the activation of senior people and pension reforms in various European welfare states. One major observation is that higher educational levels go together with higher participation rates, longer participation and higher actual retirement ages of both women and men. This holds no matter what type of welfare state is involved. However, social-democratic welfare states are more successful than others in combating gender differences in participation. Moreover, they succeed better than others in retaining older workers – men and women – for the labour market. This success is not based on one single measure, but on a complex of measures and attitudes among workers and employers that do not exclude older women and men, but stimulate them to invest in their human capital and helps them to reconcile work and private life throughout the life course.