A sustainable working life for all – challenges and future opportunities

The retirement age is being raised gradually to counteract the financial consequences of an increasingly older population.

However, with increasing age, and in particular after 50-years of age, an increasing number of persons are excluded from the labour market due to health problems.

There are also increasing difficulties for young people and people in marginalized labor market positions to establish in the labor market.

The research program addresses major challenges to create opportunities for a sustainable working life for all groups on the labor market by strengthening and updating the research on risk factors for poor health, and labor market marginalization and exclusion over the life-span among young, middle aged, and older male and female workers.The aims of the program are to extend knowledge on risk factors for labor market marginalisation and exclusion over the life course (WP1-3), and to identify policies and measures at workplaces that support a long working life (WP4).

In four work packages we will study:WP1.

Effects of long-term and accumulated poor working conditions on preterm labor-market exit, and potentially risk-reducing effects of occupational change and reduced occupational exposure WP2 Working-life expectancy among different occupational and socioeconomic groups WP3. Determinants and consequences of labor market marginalization over the life courseWP4.

Work organizational structures promoting a sustainable working life for all The program is based on research and research collaborations that we have been involved in for many years, in an established environment now under expansion and development.

The research team consists of both established and junior researchers from Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and the USA.

A large, compiled register-based cohort (SWIP) that includes the entire Swedish population, born around 1990 or earlier, will be used in WP1-3. Data from surveys and qualitative interviews will also be collected (WP4).