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The Older Worker: Identifying a Critical Research Agenda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Philip Taylor ,
Wendy Loretto ,
Victor Marshall ,
Catherine Earl  and
Christopher Phillipson
Philip Taylor
Affiliation:
Federation Business School, Federation University Australia E-mail: philip.taylor@federation.edu.au
Wendy Loretto
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh Business School, University of Edinburgh E-mail: Wendy.Loretto@ed.ac.uk
Victor Marshall
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina E-mail: victor_marshall@unc.edu.
Catherine Earl
Affiliation:
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University E-mail: c.earl@deakin.edu.au
Christopher Phillipson
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences, The University of Manchester E-mail: christopher.phillipson@manchester.ac.uk
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Abstract

The roles that older workers play in labour markets has received a great deal of policy and academic scrutiny in response to economic crises and demographic change. As a starting point, this focus has paradoxically resulted in insufficient attention to older workers themselves. The article is thus concerned with refocusing the agenda for research onto the older worker. Building on an extensive literature review, four gaps in knowledge are identified: who might be researched; what the focus of that research might be; the role of theory informing the research; and how the research might be conducted. The article identifies a particular need for research on ‘work’ as opposed to ‘retirement’ and how the changing nature of work may influence future patterns of later life labour market engagement and retirement. It is argued that better public policy will result from more critical and socially embedded research that recognises the heterogeneity of ‘older workers’ and their motivations.

Keywords

older workershuman resource managementpublic policytheories of ageing
Type
Themed Section on Policy Responses to Ageing and the Extension of Working Lives
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , October 2016 , pp. 675 - 689
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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