Economic activity of persons in the older working age group in the European Union

Izabela Grabowska, Warsaw School of Economics

Changes in the population age structure as a result of population ageing bring far reaching consequences for the European economies. According to Ilmarinen (1999) the crucial role in projecting policies aimed at increasing economic activity of older persons is maintaining their work ability, which is influenced by the set of factors. The first determinant is health, the second concerns competences and skills. Also norms and attitudes towards persons in older age groups, concerning their capacities and limits are important. And the forth determinant concerns work environment. According to the concept, work conditions and adjustments of the workplace to the needs of older persons should be taken into account when higher employment rate of older people is to be achieved. The aim of the study is to analyze whether individual characteristics, workplace features, as well as institutional settings and country context influence probability of work in older age groups. Special attention will be paid to work environment. The methods used are: multilevel logistic regression, factor analysis, two step cluster analysis, latent class analysis. Data comes from: the European Working Condition Survey 2005. Analysis was done separately for men and women. Results will be compared with analysis conducted form Poland, based on the survey "Deactivation of persons in preretirement age" (2007). From this preliminary analysis I conclude that individual factors, workplace features and labour market situation significantly influence work probability in older ages, however there are strong gender differences in this respect, when it comes to individual, workplace and as well as country level variables.