Posted Content•
Dealing with older workers in Europe: A comparative survey of employers' attitudes and actions
TL;DR: In this article, a comparative survey among employers from four European countries (Greece, Spain, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom) is used to examine their expectations with respect to the ageing of the workforce, the productivity of older workers and their recruitment and retention behaviour regarding older workers.
Abstract: This article addresses employers’ attitudes and actions regarding the position of older workers. A comparative survey among employers from four European countries – Greece, Spain, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom – is used to examine their expectations with respect to the ageing of the workforce, the productivity of older workers and their recruitment and retention behaviour regarding older workers. The results show that in spite of the perceived challenges ahead (ageing workforce), employers take no substantial measures to retain and recruit older workers or improve their productivity. Only employers in the United Kingdom seem to recognize older workers as a valuable source of labour supply and act accordingly.
Citations
More filters
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: The Elder Law Research Environment within the Norma Research Programme at the Faculty of Law at Lund University began its work, with generous funding from Ragnar Soderberg's Foundation and the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, respectively as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In 2012, the Elder Law Research Environment within the Norma Research Programme at the Faculty of Law at Lund University began its work, with generous funding from Ragnar Soderberg’s Foundation and the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, respectively. The general aim of the project is to establish Elder Law as a new research discipline – first and foremost in Sweden and the other Nordic countries, but also in Europe, as we are ‘lagging behind’ the US and the Anglo-Saxon world in this area. It is hoped that this volume will serve as an introduction not only to the Norma Elder Law Research Environment, but also to some extent to Elder Law research more generally. To this end, the book also contains an extensive bibliography of relevance for Elder Law studies.
20 citations
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.
Abstract: General rights Unless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply: Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal
19 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined whether employers' opinions and expectations regarding workers' retirement age are in line with the ideas of the EU-Member States’ governments to increase the participation of older workers and to postpone the transition from paid work into retirement at the end of the labour market career.
Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to examine whether employers’ opinions and expectations regarding workers’ retirement age are in line with the ideas of the EU-Member States’ governments to increase the participation of older workers and to postpone the transition from paid work into retirement at the end of the labour market career. Design/methodology/approach – A comparative survey was used among employers from five European countries: Greece, Hungary, Spain, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Findings – The authors found that most employers are reluctant in supporting later retirement. Part of this reluctance is the result of the perception that an ageing work force is a burden rather than a boom to organizations. Originality/value – This study shows that there still is a discrepancy between the aims formulated at the level of the European Union and member state countries with respect to stimulating the labour force participation of older workers and the attitudes of individual employers. In particular, the fact that employers perceive alternative solutions to the challenges of an ageing and shrinking workforce, other than delaying retirement, suggests that most employers will not be a major driving force for extending the working life.
7 citations
TL;DR: This paper used machine learning methods measuring the linguistic similarity of job-ad language to ageist stereotypes identified by industrial psychologists and conducted an experiment to evaluate whether this language is perceived as biased against older workers.
Abstract: We explore whether ageist stereotypes in job ads are detectable using machine learning methods measuring the linguistic similarity of job-ad language to ageist stereotypes identified by industrial psychologists. We then conduct an experiment to evaluate whether this language is perceived as biased against older workers. We find that language classified by the machine learning algorithm as closely related to ageist stereotypes is perceived as ageist by experimental subjects. The scores assigned to the language related to ageist stereotypes are larger when responses are incentivized by rewarding participants for guessing how other respondents rated the language. These methods could potentially help enforce anti-discrimination laws by using job ads to predict or identify employers more likely to be engaging in age discrimination.
6 citations
References
More filters
Book•
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In this paper, Esping-Andersen distinguishes three major types of welfare state, connecting these with variations in the historical development of different Western countries, and argues that current economic processes such as those moving toward a post-industrial order are shaped not by autonomous market forces but by the nature of states and state differences.
Abstract: Few discussions in modern social science have occupied as much attention as the changing nature of welfare states in Western societies. Gosta Esping-Andersen, one of the foremost contributors to current debates on this issue, here provides a new analysis of the character and role of welfare states in the functioning of contemporary advanced Western societies. Esping-Andersen distinguishes three major types of welfare state, connecting these with variations in the historical development of different Western countries. He argues that current economic processes, such as those moving toward a postindustrial order, are shaped not by autonomous market forces but by the nature of states and state differences. Fully informed by comparative materials, this book will have great appeal to all those working on issues of economic development and postindustrialism. Its audience will include students of sociology, economics, and politics."
16,883 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: The theory of racial and sexual discrimination in the labor market was first introduced by Arrow as mentioned in this paper, who introduced the Inflation Policy and Unemployment Theory (INPT) and introduced the first formalization of the theory in terms of exact statistical models.
Abstract: My recent book, Inflation Policy and Unemployment Theory, introduces what is called the statistical theory of racial (and sexual) discrimination in the labor market.' The theory fell naturally out of the non-Walrasian treatment there of the labor "market" as operating imperfectly because of the scarcity of information about the existence and characteristics of workers and jobs. A paradigm for the theory is the traveller in a strange town faced with choosing between dinner at the hotel and dinner somewhere in the town. If he makes it a rule to dine outside the hotel without any prior investigation, he is said to be discriminating against the hotel. Though there will be instances where the hotel cuisine would have been preferable, the rule represents rational behavior it maximizes expected utilityif the cost of acquiring evaluations of restaurants is sufficiently high and if the hotel restaurant is believed to be inferior at least half the time. In the same way, the employer who seeks to maximize expected profit will discriminate against blacks or women if he believes them to be less qualified, reliable, long-term, etc. on the average than whites and men, respectively, and if the cost of gaining information about the individual applicants is excessive. Skin color or sex is taken as a proxy for relevant data not sampled. The a priori belief in the probable preferability of a white or a male over a black or female candidate who is not known to differ in other respects might stem from the employer's previous statistical experience with the two groups (members from the less favored groups might have been, and continue to be, hired at less favorable terms); or it might stem from prevailing sociological beliefs that blacks and women grow up disadvantaged due to racial hostility or at least prejudices toward them in the society (in which latter case the discrimination is self-perpetuating). The theory is applicable to the class of "liberal" employers and workers who have no distaste for hiring and working alongside black or female workers. By contrast, the theory of discrimination originated by Gary Becker is based on the factor of racial taste. The pioneering work of Gunnar Myrdal et al. also appears to center on racial (and, in an appendix, sexual) antagonism. Some indications of interest in the new theory, and the independent discovery of the same statistical theoryby Kenneth Arrow, convince me that it is time for a formalization of the theory in terms of an exact statistical model. Though what follows is very simple, it may be useful to those who like exact models and it may stimulate others to develop the theory further. An employer samples from a population of job applicants. The employer is able to measure the performance of each applicant in some kind of test, yi, which, after suitable scaling, may be said to measure the applicant's promise or degree of qualification, qi, plus an error term, ps.
3,203 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of agency is presented and empirical evidence which supports the hypothesis is provided, and the contract with mandatory-retirement clauses is Pareto efficient, where the date of mandatory retirement is chosen to correspond to the date for voluntary retirement, but the nature of the optimal wage profile results in a discrepancy between spot wage and spot VMP.
Abstract: This paper offers an explanation of the use of mandatory-retirement clauses in labor contracts. It argues that the date of mandatory retirement is chosen to correspond to the date of voluntary retirement, but the nature of the optimal wage profile results in a discrepancy between spot wage and spot VMP (value of the worker's marginal product). This is because it is preferable to pay workers less than VMP when young and more than VMP when old. By doing so the "agency" problem is solved, so the contract with mandatory retirement is Pareto efficient. A theory of agency is presented and empirical evidence which supports the hypothesis is provided.
1,924 citations
01 Jan 1957
TL;DR: The second edition of The Economics of Discrimination has been expanded to include three further discussions of the problem and an entirely new introduction which considers the contributions made by others in recent years and some of the more important problems remaining.
Abstract: This second edition of Gary S. Becker's The Economics of Discrimination has been expanded to include three further discussions of the problem and an entirely new introduction which considers the contributions made by others in recent years and some of the more important problems remaining. Mr. Becker's work confronts the economic effects of discrimination in the market place because of race, religion, sex, color, social class, personality, or other non-pecuniary considerations. He demonstrates that discrimination in the market place by any group reduces their own real incomes as well as those of the minority. The original edition of The Economics of Discrimination was warmly received by economists, sociologists, and psychologists alike for focusing the discerning eye of economic analysis upon a vital social problem—discrimination in the market place. "This is an unusual book; not only is it filled with ingenious theorizing but the implications of the theory are boldly confronted with facts. . . . The intimate relation of the theory and observation has resulted in a book of great vitality on a subject whose interest and importance are obvious."—M.W. Reder, American Economic Review "The author's solution to the problem of measuring the motive behind actual discrimination is something of a tour de force . . . . Sociologists in the field of race relations will wish to read this book."—Karl Schuessler, American Sociological Review
1,700 citations
TL;DR: Three forms of stereotype inaccuracy are identified: stereotypic inaccuracy, valence inaccurate, and dispersion inaccuracy; the implications of each form are discussed, along with how each can be assessed using a full-accuracy design.
Abstract: A perennial issue in the study of social stereotypes concerns their accuracy. Yet, there is no clear concept of the various ways in which stereotypes may be accurate or inaccurate and how one would assess their accuracy. This article is designed to rectify this situation. Three forms of stereotype inaccuracy are identified: stereotypic inaccuracy, valence inaccuracy, and dispersion inaccuracy. The implications of each form are discussed, along with how each can be assessed using a full-accuracy design. Past research that has attempted to examine stereotype accuracy is reviewed, and new data on the issue are presented. Although of perennial interest, the theoretical and methodological difficulties of assessing stereotype accuracy are substantial. The goal in this article is to alert the researcher to these difficulties and point toward their solution.
494 citations