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CHAPTER 3
Demographic changes and challenges in Europe with special focus on Germany 51

during their working lifetimes. Activating employment policy has to provide and
institutionalise transitional (framework) regulations between work and non-
work and create possibilities for individuals to react successfully to breaks in
their life cycles or working life patterns. The degree to which individuals react
successfully to critical life events determines the quality of their lifetime
careers. This also implies a political debate on the different transitions. It is
necessary to create possibilities for individuals to maintain a continuous link
with the labour market throughout their lifetimes. If individuals are (temporarily)
outside the labour market, institutional stimuli should exist to enable individuals
to return to work. It is important to invest continuously in human capital. It is
essential for policy to reduce irreversible choices. To support training activities
of individuals, guidance and counselling through public service providers could
be helpful. An example of a successful instrument is the training cheque
programme in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It offers
enterprises and employees in SMEs financial support for continuing vocational
training. Use of the training cheque requires obligatory, but free counselling
at consultation centres (Jelich, 2009; Moraal 2007b).
The enterprise is an important determinant of working life patterns. Working
life patterns are linked directly to processes within enterprises. Among other
things, enterprises need to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions while
ensuring a certain stability and continuity of production. Flexible use of the
labour force secures optimal use of production factors. However, too much
emphasis on flexibility also harbours dangers, for example to continuity of
labour supply. High rotation of personnel bears high operational costs (such
as induction/training), as well as diminishing staff commitment and enterprise
loyalty and insufficient investment in human capital. Participation in working
life is a condition for social inclusion of individuals and societal groups.
However, individuals are increasingly confronted with voluntary and
involuntary transitions in and out of work.

3.4.2. Transitional forces on the labour market: the ʻpush, pull, jump,
stay, (re)entryʼ approach
This section focuses on flexible transitions from the core labour market to
retirement (or temporary disability) and vice versa (transition V) as well as
from (long-term) unemployment of older persons to the core labour market
and vice versa (transition II). These transitions, however, are not mere supply
and demand processes, as the ʻpush, pull, jump, stay, (re)entryʼ approach
stipulates (Bredgaard and Larsen, 2005; Gambetta, 1987; Sørensen and
Møberg, 2005). In this approach, patterns of different combinations of