Older Workers And Job Mobility: Two Countries, Two Stories

Ageing population in Europe has led to several policy reforms intended to lengthen working careers. Despite the need to prolong work careers, if people have to work longer, we also need to recognize which factors enable or hinder longer careers, e.g. what happens if someone needs to change jobs either voluntary or because of job loss after 50? This paper discusses issues related to job mobility after 50, based on the results of two qualitative studies of older workers’ experiences of voluntary or involuntary job mobility. Specifically, one study investigated the experience of 15 Italian managers made redundant and the other of 20 Norwegian employees who voluntary changed jobs after 50. In both studies, data were collected through individual in-depth interviews. Participants from Norway changed jobs without experiencing ageism. Their stories reflect a context of valorization of older workers’ and experience. On the contrary, the stories of participants from Italy reflect a context characterized by huge obstacles to job mobility and in which age discrimination is apparent. The differences in how the two groups make sense of their experiences of job mobility in old age reflect the huge distance between the institutional and cultural contexts of the two countries. Norway and Italy have followed divergent active ageing policy strategies. These, in turn, have resulted in different shared narratives around older workers. The joint discussion of results from the two studies can contribute to a better understanding of contextual forces that shape the possibility of action towards inclusive labour markets.