The Employment Rate of the Elderly Across Five European Countries

The employment rate of the elderly differs between European countries. In Austria 44.9 percent of the 55 to 64 years old are employed, while Sweden ranks first with an employment rate of 73.6 percent. Macroeconomic, institutional, individual and social factors influence the level of employment. This project analyses the structure of employment of the elderly in Austria, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden. It looks at the social security system (in the fields of unemployment, old-age, accidents at work and occupational diseases) as an early exit from the labour force and gives an overview of employer-related measures to increase the employment of the elderly.