Meeting the Challenges of Active Ageing in the Workplace: Is the Abolition of Retirement the Answer?

Abstract

This article considers how policy makers across Europe can meet the challenges of extending working lives, is a key element of the ‘Active Ageing’ agenda, whilst at the same time striking a balance between the interests of older workers, those of younger generations to access jobs and career opportunities, and the interests of employers in workforce planning. It examines the experience of the UK which removed mandatory retirement in October 2011 and argues that, viewed from a Marxist perspective, the developments in the UK have failed to strike the correct balance between the different interests at stake, and has instead taken a neo-liberal approach to the regulation of retirement. It then moves to consider retirement from an equalities perspective and suggests that retaining some form of regulation of the end of working lives can still meet the demands of equality. The final section discusses some proposals for reform.