Current And Emerging Trends In Aging And Work

This timely volume provides an up-to-date and comprehensive summary about what is known about aging and work and addresses the challenges and opportunities confronting older workers and organizations. The authors describe current and emerging topics related to work and aging adults such as working in teams, the increasing diversity of the labor force, work and caregiving, the implications of technology for an aging workforce, and health and wellness issues. The authorship is international; the authors are renowned for their respective work in the topical areas and represent a broad range of disciplines within academia, as well as offer perspectives from government and policy. Jobs, organizations, the labor market, and the workforce are experiencing dramatic change. Workers of all ages, including older workers, need to interact with the wide variety of ubiquitous technologies that are reshaping work processes, job content, work settings, communication strategies, and the delivery of training, and this book aims to update readers on the particular issues facing today’s aging adults in the workplace. The chapters’ broad and inclusive scope encompasses: Workplace aging and jobs in the 21st century The retirement income security outlook for older workers Population aging, age discrimination, and age discrimination protections Older workers and the contemporary labor market The role of aging, age diversity, and age heterogeneity within teams The intersection of family caregiving and work Current and Emerging Trends in Aging and Work is relevant to a broad audience of academic researchers, practitioners, and students in psychology, sociology, management, engineering (industrial and human factors), the health sciences, gerontology/geriatrics, and public health. It is also a useful resource for government and policy leaders, as well as workers and managers in the public and private sectors.

The United States is in the midst of a major demographic shift. In the coming decades, people aged 65 and over will make up an increasingly large percentage of the population: The ratio of people aged 65+ to people aged 20-64 will rise by 80%. This shift is happening for two reasons: people are living longer, and many couples are choosing to have fewer children and to have those children somewhat later in life. The resulting demographic shift will present the nation with economic challenges, both to absorb the costs and to leverage the benefits of an aging population. Aging and the Macroeconomy: Long-Term Implications of an Older Population presents the fundamental factors driving the aging of the U.S. population, as well as its societal implications and likely long-term macroeconomic effects in a global context. The report finds that, while population aging does not pose an insurmountable challenge to the nation, it is imperative that sensible policies are implemented soon to allow companies and households to respond. It offers four practical approaches for preparing resources to support the future consumption of households and for adapting to the new economic landscape.

Aging and Work in the 21st Century, 2nd edition, reviews, summarizes, and integrates existing literature from various disciplines with regard to aging and work, but with a focus on recent advances in the field. Chapter authors, all leading experts within their respective areas, provide recommendations for future research, practice, and/or public policy. Fully revised and updated, the second edition takes up many of the same critical topics addressed in the first edition, and incorporates twelve new authors across the volume and three brand new chapters on recruitment and retention, legal issues, and global issues in work and aging. The intended audience is advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers in the disciplines of industrial and organizational psychology; developmental psychology; gerontology; sociology; economics; and social work. Older worker advocate organizations, such as AARP, will also take interest in this edited book.

This multidisciplinary, comprehensive assessment of the state of aging and work addresses a wide range of topics relevant to academic researchers and practitioners, government and industry leaders, and workers and managers in the public and private sectors.

The aging population of the United States has significant implications for the workforce - challenging what it means to work and to retire in the U.S. In fact, by 2030, one-fifth of the population will be over age 65. This shift has significant repercussions for the economy and key social programs. Due to medical advancements and public health improvements, recent cohorts of older adults have experienced better health and increasing longevity compared to earlier cohorts. These improvements in health enable many older adults to extend their working lives. While higher labor market participation from this older workforce could soften the potential negative impacts of the aging population over the long term on economic growth and the funding of Social Security and other social programs, these trends have also occurred amidst a complicating backdrop of widening economic and social inequality that has meant that the gains in health, improvements in mortality, and access to later-life employment have been distributed unequally. Understanding the Aging Workforce: Defining a Research Agenda offers a multidisciplinary framework for conceptualizing pathways between work and nonwork at older ages. This report outlines a research agenda that highlights the need for a better understanding of the relationship between employers and older employees; how work and resource inequalities in later adulthood shape opportunities in later life; and the interface between work, health, and caregiving. The research agenda also identifies the need for research that addresses the role of workplaces in shaping work at older ages, including the role of workplace policies and practices and age discrimination in enabling or discouraging older workers to continue working or retire.

As the country’s workforce ages, the changing labor market must address unique challenges as well as surprising opportunities. This book presents leading scholars and researchers providing valuable insights into the challenges facing older workers in the contemporary workplace as well as offering perspectives on the demands presently being placed on employers to adapt to and accommodate the needs of these workers. The book focuses on the analysis of current trends in older workers, work, family, and personal life issues, and ways to transform today’s workplace to value older workers. This book offers practitioners the opportunity to fully grasp the current situation for older workers by presenting the latest research. This helpful resource provides professionals with best practices and innovative approaches to support aging employees. The volume is extensively referenced and contains several tables to clearly present data. It is a valuable text for employers, human resources professionals, employee assistance programs, work/family professionals, gerontologists and aging studies professionals, educators, and students. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health.

Shifts in the age composition of the workforce coupled with dynamic definitions of retirement represent important issues that influence work processes and, more generally, the experience of working across one’s career. For example, redefinitions of careers and the changing nature of working have contributed to the emergence of distinct forms and patterns of work experiences across the prototypical work lifespan. Likewise, older individuals are increasingly delaying retirement in favor of longer-term labor force participation. The study of age and work, and work and retirement by industrial, work, and organizational (IWO) psychologists and scholars of human resources management and organizational behavior (HR/OB) has recently proliferated in part as a result of such trends, along with the recognition that age-related processes are important indicators of various proximal (e.g., job attitudes, work behaviors, work motives, and wellbeing) and distal outcomes (e.g., sustainable employability, climates for aging, and firm performance) at various levels of abstraction in modern work environments. Recent theoretical advances have suggested that age, along with individual psychological factors and various contextual influences can jointly influence work outcomes that contribute to long-term employment success, including work performance, job attitudes, work orientations, and motivations. Similar theoretical developments concerning retirement have postulated individual and contextual elements that drive success in the transition from career and work roles to non-work and leisure as well as post-retirement bridge employment roles. In this Research Topic, we aim to curate a collection of papers that are representative of current trends and advances in thinking about and investigating the role of age in workplace processes and the changing nature of retirement. Our hope is to showcase various contemporary ideas and rigorous empirical studies as a means to inform broader thinking and to support enhanced theorizing and organizational practice regarding these processes.

The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook on Aging and Work is a comprehensive resource for students, scholars, and practitioners seeking a broad overview of interrelated topics concerning the aging workforce or insightful discussions of specific issues and challenges facing people in the demographic. Notably, its chapters address the impact of current conditions and developments on the individual worker, organizations and employers, and society as a whole.