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CHAPTER 1
Setting the scene: promoting an inclusive labour market for ageing workers 9

lifelong learning as a core element of modern careers and supported notions
of ʻactive ageingʼ and ʻactive age managementʼ.
This publication examines recent national policy, strategy, research and
practical developments in Europe on an ageing workforce and presents
examples of how countries, regions and organisations are currently dealing
with active age management. Its specific focus is on highlighting approaches
applied in EU Member States to provide information, advice and guidance
support for lifelong learning and career management of ageing workers.
Individual contributions in this publication highlight increasing policy attention
paid towards greater age diversity in workplaces across Europe.
Despite remarkable progress, evidence suggests that more successful
integration of older workers into national labour markets calls for more
comprehensive cross-sectoral policies and strategies as well as harmonised
all-age legislative frameworks across Member States. Currently, countries
have different legislation and diverse traditions and practices in recruiting older
workers and meeting their specific learning and career needs in the workplace.

1.2. Contemporary trends shaping work,
labour markets and societies

Population ageing cannot be meaningfully assessed in isolation. The
phenomenon needs to be seen in a context of important societal trends that
have profound impacts. These trends are discussed more in depth in the
subsections that follow.
Figure 1.1 provides a condensed overview of main trends at three levels
(macro, meso and micro), the impacts they have at each level and policies,
instruments and concepts offering possible solutions. Although it can be
argued that these developments play a role at all levels, here the approach is
to examine the most important trend at each level. After providing a general
overview, we discuss each trend in more detail.
Population ageing as a macro trend leads to more ageing workers,
increasing labour-market exit and possible skills shortages. These trends can
be counteracted and/or managed by providing incentives supporting longer
careers and by laws and regulations restricting early exit and increasing
(statutory) pension ages. Common European Union (EU) tools such as the
European qualifications framework (EQF) aim to support longer working lives
for instance by encouraging lifelong learning by promoting validation of non-
formal and informal learning.