ASPA · Activating Senior Potential in Ageing Europe

The dejuvenation and ageing of Europe's population puts society for some major challenges. The development towards a knowledge-based society requires continues investment in new knowledge and skills. Given the ageing of the population and low fertility rates it also requires high(er) participation rates of females and people over fifty. So far, employers’ and governments’ policies have focused on human capital investments for the younger age categories and have stimulated older workers to retire at a relatively early age, in stead of investing in sustainable workers throughout the life course. This proposal aims for an ambitious, exhaustive examination of the forces and mechanisms behind employers’ and governments’ behaviour and the resulting societal arrangements. To that aim it will use large-scale surveys for the analyses of employers’ behaviour and desk research and interviews to map government behaviour. Statistical and focus group analyses will be used to get insight in the participation and activity rates of people between 50 to 70. Next, the project tries to identify good practices at the company level and at the level of (national or local) government policies that contribute to continuous investment in knowledge and skills throughout the life course, resulting in high activity rates for people between 50 and 70.