Employability of Older Workers in Italy and Europe

21 Pages Posted: 3 Mar 2006

See all articles by Roberto Leombruni

Roberto Leombruni

LABORatorio R. Revelli - Centre for Employment Studies

Claudia Villosio

LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies; R&P Ricerche e Progetti

Date Written: November 2005

Abstract

In many European countries the participation rates of older workers are worryingly low, and Italy - within this picture - has one of the worst records, particularly for females. In this paper we investigate whether this signals an issue about their employability. Indeed, the non-participation of an individual does not point to an employability issue as long as it is a free choice of the person, and as long as it does not hinder their future participation in the labour market.

To address this point we single out which are the empirically most relevant factors in shaping cross country differentials. Two selection processes emerged as having a most prominent role: the life cycle decision for women of not participating to the labour market, and the access for men and women to early retirement schemes. Controlling for these selection processes international differences reduce significantly.

In both cases the main issue is the possibility that a participation choice made in a given point in time - for instance the early retirement decision - can have long lasting consequences, hindering future transition possibilities of the individuals. The magnitude of the two selection processes suggests already some policy conclusions, which are derived in the paper, and points to the need of further research to ascertain whether there are barriers to late entries and re-entries in the labour market.

Keywords: Participation rate, Employability

JEL Classification: J21, J26

Suggested Citation

Leombruni, Roberto and Villosio, Claudia, Employability of Older Workers in Italy and Europe (November 2005). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=886674 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.886674

Roberto Leombruni (Contact Author)

LABORatorio R. Revelli - Centre for Employment Studies ( email )

Via Real Collegio 30
10024 Moncalieri
Italy

Claudia Villosio

LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies ( email )

Via Real Collegio 30
10024 Moncalieri
Italy
+39 011.670.50.63 (Phone)
+ 39 011 6705061 (Fax)

R&P Ricerche e Progetti ( email )

Via Bava 8
Torino 10124
Italy
011-888100 (Phone)

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