The promotion of skills, competitiveness, and working capacity of the ageing workforce demands action throughout the whole of working life. Active policy approaches should be preventive, avoiding age-specific employment problems by combating risks in earlier phases of working life. Specific measures such as opportunities for self-employment, are both necessary and effective in improving prospects for unemployed older workers. The report, Active Strategies for an Ageing Workforce , stresses that a systematic co-ordination of measures is required, and achievable, at both enterprise and public policy levels. While the report emphasises policy initiatives, it also points out that effective measures depend upon worker involvement from the start, not only as 'experts in their own matters', but also in realising integrated actions at the workplace level.
Demographic changes are rapid in both the workplace and the wider community.
Evaluation, though difficult, is essential to inform effective practice and to avoid unintended consequences. Economic evaluation is particularly lacking, and there is a general need for research to support the development and implementation of policies.