Foundation seminar series

Age and work - connecting the generations, 2004-2005

The ageing workforce in Europe is of increasing concern to policy-makers at both European and international level. Key points on the political and social agendas include:

• promoting access to the job market

• supporting ‘active ageing’

• improving lifelong learning and employability

Foundation seminars on Age and work – connecting the generations were organised in two sessions.

2005 seminar

Background information [pdf, 39KB]**
1st session**: Dublin, 9-11 March 2005
2nd session: Kranj, 23-25 May 2005**
Participants from**: Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

2004 seminar

Background information [pdf, 206KB]**
1st session**: Dublin, 9-11 June 2004
2nd session: Bonn, 13-15 September 2004
Participants from: Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.

Participants included representatives of governments, workers and employers from different Member States.

The involvement and experience of the participants allowed for a high level of debate during the seminar. In the intervening period between the two sessions, three representatives from each country worked together as a 'national team' in preparing a working document providing information on the situation in their country. They made presentations to their colleagues from other participating countries in the second session. The rich debate resulting from these presentations showed that the problems were similar but that the way in which they were addressed had to take into account the national specificities.

Foundation work on ageing issues:

• A recent report on Ageing and work in Europe

• Two specific aspects of ageing: care of the elderly and employment of older workers

• The EIRO comparative study on Industrial relations and the ageing workforce in the EU and Norway reviews measures to combat age discrimination in employment.

• Key findings on the reorganisation of time arrangements, specifically from the life-course perspective

• Age and working conditions in the European Union

• An overview of the main results 'Quality of life in Europe'

• EIRO article on the European Commission Communication entitled 'Towards a Europe for all ages - promoting prosperity and intergenerational solidarity'

• The European Monitoring Centre on Change (EMCC) produced four company case examples on the inclusion of ageing workers.

See also:

• Web bibliography on age and work

• Population data by age for 24 EU countries (PDF, 117KB)