Participation of older workers in the labor market depends, among other things, on older workers employment chances. This study examines age differences regarding risk of unemployment and reemployment outcomes in late working life in Sweden. Using Swedish registry data, we analyzed the probability of unemployment as well as work-related activity following unemployment (wage- or self-employment; exit; downward mobility) of all people born between 1954 and 1968 (aged 49?63) and registered in Sweden between the years 2012 and 2018. Results show that although risk of unemployment does not differ significantly across age groups, younger age groups are more likely to be reemployed as wage-employed while older age groups are more likely to be reemployed as self-employed or exit working life. After an unemployment period, older employees are more likely to have a lower wage than during their previous employment or become part-time unemployed. We conclude that different age groups have unequal chances in late working life in terms of reemployment, risk of exit, and risk of downward mobility following unemployment. Policies for extending working life and promoting inequality should include measures for increasing employability of older workers such as anti-discriminatory laws and dealing with skills mismatch. Among older people, the risk of unemployment does not differ across age groups.Among older people, reemployment chances decrease by age.After unemployment, the probability of exit or self-employment increases by age among older people.Older employees have higher risk of downward mobility after unemployment.Policies for the demand side and employability of older workers are needed. Among older people, the risk of unemployment does not differ across age groups. Among older people, reemployment chances decrease by age. After unemployment, the probability of exit or self-employment increases by age among older people. Older employees have higher risk of downward mobility after unemployment. Policies for the demand side and employability of older workers are needed.

Many workers, including older ones, experienced changes at work during the COVID-19 pandemic, among which was a sudden increase in the use of digital technologies. This paper aims at understanding older workers' satisfaction with digital technology-related changes at work during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Nordics. Based on novel survey data collected in Sweden in 2020- 2021, we analyzed the experience with digital technology-related changes at work and modeled the (dis)satisfaction with such changes among older workers (aged 50+). Our findings show that groups of older, less educated, reporting concurrent workload changes and digital technologyrelated difficulties had an increased likelihood of being dissatisfied with digital technology-related changes at work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results have implications for the theoretical understanding of late working life and for the redefinition of working life policies and age manage- ment strategies in times of work digitalization of work.

Key Findings

• Perception goes with participation - If adult learning and continued vocational education and training (CVET) activities are considered important, the likelihood of engaging in different types of adult learning and CVET activities increases.
• General affectedness - This relationship has been found for participation in all kinds of adult learning and CVET activities included in this study: formal, non-formal work-related, non-formal non-work-related, and informal.
• Age and status gap - Adults who are younger, higher educated and white-collar employed are more likely to participate in all four types of adult learning and CVET activities.
• Gender gap - Women are more likely to participate in adult learning and CVET activities compared to men.

Objectives: This study addresses the gendered risks of loneliness and depression in later life from a social exclusion perspective. Exclusion from social relations (ESR) in older age is an unwanted situation associated with increased loneliness and depressive symptoms, with gender differences in the perception of solitude, and the evaluation of existing social networks, potentially accounting for the increased susceptibility of older women. Method: Secondary analyses was conducted in a sample of 60,918 participants in the Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Older persons subjective perception of solitude (i.e. solitude satisfaction), and their satisfaction with established relations (i.e. network satisfaction), were examined in gender-stratified regression models, predicting loneliness and depressive symptomatology, controlling for network size, demographics, and health. Results: There was no convincing evidence for significant associations between solitude satisfaction (SoS) and loneliness among older men, nor between network satisfaction (NeS) and loneliness for both genders. Low SoS and low NeS were independently associated with more depressive symptoms and an increased probability of depression, especially among older women. This vulnerability could not be attributed to increased loneliness, as only among older women, low SoS was associated with lower levels of loneliness, and lower levels of loneliness was anaemically associated with more depressive symptoms. Conclusions: The perception of solitude, and the evaluation of social relations, are associated with gendered risks of depression among older persons who are challenged by objective and subjective ESR states.

Based on Swedish National Registry Data, this paper investigates the social structure of exclusion risks in late working life in Sweden by analyzing exit from working life, employment breaks, and late employment trajectories according to gender and education. Individuals born in 1950 (n = 107,830) are followed between the years 2010 and 2018. Results show that women with low education exit working life earlier and have a higher risk of employment breaks due to reduced working ability, while men with low education have a higher risk of employment breaks due to unemployment. Men in general and people with high education have a higher probability of moving to self-employment in late working life. We conclude that research and social policies require an understanding of multifarious late work trajectories to unearth the inequality of exclusion risks in the late phases of working life and the potential for interventions towards equal and inclusive prolongation.

Much research is conducted to evaluate digital-based solutions for health-care services, but little is known about how such evaluations acknowledge diversity in later life. This study helps fill this gap and analyses participation in the evaluation of a web-based mobile phone system for monitoring the post-operative progress of patients after day surgery. Participation is conceptualised as resulting from three processes: pre-screening, recruitment and self-selection. Based on field information and survey data, this study models (a) the (non-)participation in a sample of 498 individuals aged 60 and older that includes non-screened, non-recruited, decliners and participants in the evaluation, and (b) the individual decision to participate in a sample of 210 individuals aged 60 and older who were invited to take part in the evaluation. Increasing age enhances the likelihood of not being screened, not being recruited or declining the invitation. Those not recruited were most often ineligible because of technology-related barriers. Decliners and participants differed by age, gender, job, health status, digital skills, but not by social participation. Results suggest that highly specific groups of older people are more likely to be involved than others. Old-age diversity is not properly represented in digital health research, with implications for the inclusivity of new digital health technologies. This has implications for increased risks of old-age exclusion and exacerbation of social and digital inequalities in ageing societies.

Purpose In this paper, the authors attempt to understand how labour market attachment during the ages of 30–59 influences individuals' transition out of the labour market. Design/methodology/approach Using high-quality Swedish register data, the authors follow individuals born in 1950 and observe their labour market attachment during mid-life and their exit from the labour market. Findings The authors find evidence that labour market attachment in different stages of the career is differently related to exit from the labour market. At the age of 30, as well as between the ages 50–59, low attachment is related with earlier exit from the labour market. On the contrary, low labour market attachment during the ages 40–49 is related with later exit from the labour market. However, regardless of age, lower labour market attachment increases the risk of work-related benefit receipt in the exit year. The authors also find evidence that gender, migration status and childhood socioeconomic disadvantages may represent obstacles to longer working lives, while high education is a consistent factor in avoiding early exit from the labour market. Originality/value This study provides insights on the link between labour market attachment in different stages of the career and the exit from the labour market as well as work-related benefits dependency in the year of exit.

Aim: We aimed to understand the interplay between retirement pathways and healthcare use in the postponed and structurally changing context of retirement.

Methods: Based on Swedish register data on income and healthcare use, we applied combined sequence and cluster analysis to identify typical pathways into retirement and analysed their relation to healthcare use developments.

Results: We detected five distinct pathways into retirement. Level of healthcare use was significantly higher for the pathway via disability pensions. We saw an overall increase in healthcare use across the retirement process that was related to age rather than to the different pathways.

Conclusions: Level of healthcare use at the beginning of the retirement process may be related to selection into different pathways of retirement. We did not find clear evidence across several healthcare measures that different pathways lead to different developments in healthcare use.

The involvement of older people in research on digital technologies is uneven. Some groups of older people, e.g. the older ones, are less likely to participate in research which evaluates new digital technologies, compared to their counterparts. This may bias research results and produce wrong research conclusions. In this work, we aim at understanding whether and how the uneven involvement of older people in research on digital technologies has an impact on the research results. Our example is an intervention study which evaluated a web-based system for monitoring the postoperative progress of individuals after day surgery, i.e. ‘Mobile Phone in Recovery after Ambulatory Surgery’ (MIRAS). We considered a sample of 717 individuals of age 50 years and older (mean age: 65) who underwent a day surgery at one of the MIRAS recruitment sites during the recruitment timeframe. This group included both MIRAS participants and those who were not recruited byMIRAS. Based on information on age, gender, recruitment status, and intervention results, we implemented a weighting procedure to adjust the intervention results for the over-representation and the under-representation of groups of older people in the MIRAS sample by age and gender. We found that weighted and unweighted intervention results differed one another. The unweighted intervention results were over-positive with regards to the efficacy of the intervention due to the under-representation of groups of older people who were older and men. Biased results generate inaccurate conclusions which, in turn, can inform inappropriate digitalisation strategies and policies.

European societies need to increase the participation in work over the life course to support the provision of qualified labour and to meet the challenges for social security systems under the condition of their ageing populations. One of the key ambitions is to extend people’s working lives and to postpone labour market exit and retirement where possible. This requires informed policies, and the research programme EIWO – ‘Exclusion and Inequality in Late Working Life: Evidence for Policy Innovation towards Inclusive Extended Work and Sustainable Working Conditions in Sweden and Europe’ – aims to push the boundaries of knowledge about late working life and the potential of its inclusive and equal prolongation via a theoretically driven, gender-sensitive combination of multi-level perspectives. EIWO takes a life course approach on exclusion and inequality by security of tenure, quality of work, workplaces, and their consequences. It identifies life course policies, promoting lifelong learning processes and flexible adaptation to prolong working lives and to avoid increased exclusion and inequality. Moreover, it provides evidence for policies to ensure both individual, company and societal benefits from longer lives. To do so, EIWO orientates its analyses systematically to the macro-political contexts at the European Union level and to the policy goals expressed in the respective official statements, reports and plans.

This report systematizes this ambitious approach. Relevant documents such as reports, green books and other publications of the European Commission (EC), the European Parliament (EP), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as well as those of social partners and research institutions, have been systematically scanned and evaluated. In addition, relevant decisions of European summits have been considered. The selection of documents claims completeness regarding relevant and generally available publication, while relevance is defined from the point of view of EIWO’s interests.

It is the aim of this report to provide a sound knowledge base for EIWO’s analyses and impact strategies and to contribute to the emerging research on the connection between population ageing and the European policies towards productivity, inclusiveness, equity, resilience and sustainability.

This report aims to answer the following questions:

1. How are EIWO’s conceptual classification and programme objectives reflected in the European Union’s policy programming?
2. How can EIWO’s analyses and impact benefit from a reference to current EU policy considerations, and how does this focus support the outline of policy options and the formulating of possible proposals to Swedish and European stakeholders?

The present report was written during early 2022; analyses were finalized in February 2022 and represent the status until this date.