"The European Employment Strategy and Welfare State Reform: The Case of Increased Labour Market Participation of Older Workers"

Eichhorst, Werner and Rhein, Thomas. (2005) "The European Employment Strategy and Welfare State Reform: The Case of Increased Labour Market Participation of Older Workers". In: UNSPECIFIED, Austin, Texas. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The European Employment Strategy (EES) aims at increasing labour market participation and employment in the member states of the European Union through common objectives, supranational guidelines and recommendations addressed to EU member states while leaving the responsibility for the de-sign and implementation of appropriate action with the national level. This paper analyses one particular area of the EES which contributes to overall employment performance and requires different reform paths in divergent welfare state arrangements: better labour market integration of older work-ers. After identifying the most important economic and institutional forces influencing the employment rate of workers aged 55+ and the factors condu-cive to the successful implementation of institutional reforms, the paper as-sesses the status of “active ageing” in the EES, the Council guidelines as well as the recommendations for national reforms. It then compares relevant na-tional reforms and tries to give a preliminary answer to the question if and to what extent the EES contributed to these changes.

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