Ageing and employability - The influence of personal circumstances and individual factors

European labour markets are facing an ongoing demographic transition, namely the ageing of the working population. Meanwhile, many countries established several pathways to early retirement. As a consequence, employment rates of older workers became comparably low in Europe. To remain competitive, the European Employment Strategy has set the goal of raising the employment rate of older workers by enhancing their employability.

Although concepts of employability are often discussed, they are rarely operationalized. Regarding the ageing workforce, the term employability is regularly used in the context of further education and lifelong learning as well as in the context of health. However, according to current research, present concepts of employability consist of further dimensions. Besides health and education, work experiences, personal and family circumstances, individuals’ attitudes and leanings as well as national policies and the economy need to be considered.

This study examines employability of different age groups in Germany. It can be shown that many dimensions of employability are of diverse influence to different age groups. At a higher working age, too little emphasis is given to personal circumstances and individual factors.

The study is based on the German household panel study “Labour market and social security”, conducted yearly since 2007. Individual data can be linked to household and partner data. (http://www.iab.de/en/befragungen/iab-haushaltspanel-pass.aspx)