An age-friendly working life and careers in transition
This project will investigate the barriers and opportunities that older workers encounter in a working life characterized by major transformations. We face changing work practices, digital and green transitions, and an ageing population — conditions that make it necessary to understand how the skills and competence of workers in the latter half of their careers can best be mobilized and utilized. The main question is: What characterizes an age-friendly working life, and how do major transformations and employer preferences shape working careers across the life course?
The project will identify critical turning points and transitions that particularly affect older workers, and map the extent to which opportunities exist for skills development, career development and job change. We will also analyze employers' explicit and implicit attitudes and practices in recruitment, development and downsizing, and assess when and why age becomes a problem in hiring processes.
A central ambition is to develop an index for measuring age-friendliness in the labor market. The index will be used to assess how likely it is that job-creating measures can extend working careers, and to provide a basis for policy- and workplace-relevant recommendations. The project will also study how major transformations — for example automation or unexpected health problems — affect the marginalization of older workers, and contribute knowledge that can promote a more inclusive working life.
Methodologically, the project combines theoretical perspectives from economics and sociology with a broad evidence base: register data, survey data and qualitative interviews. This interdisciplinary approach enables analyses of change over time, international comparisons and an intersectional perspective.
Privacy Policy Guidance
This project utilizes personal data from individuals who are difficult to contact for the purpose of providing individual information. The data is processed for research purposes, and the legal basis for the processing is the public interest. The project involves the use of ordinary personal data and special categories of personal data, including data revealing health data and trade union membership. The data is obtained from the following sources: Statistics Norway (SSB) and national data collections. In collaborative research projects, datasets may also be shared with external project participants and their affiliated institutions.
The legality and privacy implications of the personal data processing have been assessed prior to the commencement of the project, which adheres to ethical guidelines for research. The Institute for Social Research is the data controller for the project.
Individuals who can be identified in the dataset have rights and may lodge complaints regarding the processing. Please feel free to contact our Data Protection Officer, the project manager, or the Norwegian Institute for Social Research if you have any questions or require guidance.
