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Germany's labour market faces substantial challenges caused by demographic change in the next decade. However, a country comparison with Sweden and Switzerland reveals hidden labour market potentials. Raising the employment rate towards the Swiss level implies an increase of 1.83 billion labour hours. An alignment of weekly working hours as well as annual working weeks in Germany with the (higher) values of those in Sweden and Switzerland would raise annual labour volume to 4.71 billion working hours. A reduction of involuntary part time work in Germany leads to an increase of 691 million working hours. A better utilisation of the existing labour force potential can thus contribute to tackle the adverse effects of demographic change and enable a state budget consolidation after the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 has a direct impact on the employment of older people. This adds to the challenge of ageism. The World Health Organization has started a worldwide campaign to combat ageism and has called for more research and evidence-based strategies that have the potential to be scaled up. This study specifically aims to identify solutions to combat the adverse effects of COVID-19 on the global ageing workforce. Methods: We present 15 case studies from different countries and report on what those countries are doing or not doing to address the impact of COVID-19 on ageing workers. Results: We provide examples of how COVID-19 influences older people's ability to work and stay healthy, and offer case studies of what governments, organizations or individuals can do to help ensure older people can obtain, maintain and, potentially, expand their current work. Case studies come from Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Nigeria, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). Across the countries, the impact of COVID-19 on older workers is shown as widening inequalities. A particular challenge has arisen because of a large proportion of older people, often with limited education and working in the informal sector within rural areas, e.g. in Nigeria, Thailand and China. Remedies to the particular disadvantage experienced by older workers in the context of COVID are presented. These range from funding support to encouraging business continuity, innovative product and service developments, community action, new business models and localized, national and international actions. The case studies can be seen as frequently fitting within strategies that have been proven to work in reducing ageism within the workplace. They include policy and laws that have increased benefits to workers during lockdowns (most countries); educational activities such as coaching seniorpreneurship (e,g, Australia); intergenerational contact interventions such as younger Thai people who moved back to rural areas and sharing their digital knowledge with older people and where older people reciprocate by teaching the younger people farming knowledge. Conclusion: Global sharing of this knowledge among international, national and local governments and organizations, businesses, policy makers and health and human resources experts will further understanding of the issues that are faced by older workers. This will facilitate the replication or scalability of solutions as called for in the WHO call to combat ageism in 2021. We suggest that policy makers, business owners, researchers and international organisations build on the case studies by investing in evidence-based strategies to create inclusive workplaces. Such action will thus help to challenge ageism, reduce inequity, improve business continuity and add to the quality of life of older workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines age differences in non-financial employment commitment in two types of 'exit cultures'. Germany and Denmark represent the 'early'-exit culture where early retirement has become the norm. Sweden and Noway represent the 'late'-exit culture where labour market activity until advanced age is more common. The categorization of countries corresponds to the time for data collection (1 997).The main question is whether suggested differences in exit culture are manifested in age differences in non-financial employment commitment. The claim that age differences in commitment relate to exit culture received some support. In the two early-exit countries, the probability for men to display low employment commitment was found to increase at the age of 43-54. Also women in these countries dropped in commitment but first at 55+. In the two late-exit countries there was no important loss in commitment related to the middle or old age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I examine patterns of joblessness among immigrant men and women from 33 countries of origin now living in Britain, Germany and Sweden. Access to welfare, access to the labor market, job segregation and institutional support for women's employment define distinct policy configurations in these three destinations. Findings show that gaps in joblessness between immigrants and the native-born are larger in Sweden than in Britain and Germany, net of human capital, socio-demographic characteristics and sending country. However, long-settled immigrants have more similar outcomes across the three countries than recent newcomers. Also, immigrant women in Sweden work at higher absolute rates than immigrant women elsewhere. This suggests that gendered employment policies in destination countries are a crucial dimension of immigrant economic incorporation. Ultimately, such policies also shape the fiscal impact of immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]