We may want to look at expanding opportunities for them as the entire society ages. Potential employment barriers need to be identified and addressed. Employers will need to recognize that the drop in the birth rate during the 1960s means that there will be a shortage of people in the labor pool. More and more employers will need to retain and recruit older workers to fill their needs. Employers will need to develop solutions for hiring and retaining older workers.
Older workers face structural as well as cultural barriers.
A major problem associated with such flexibility is that the work generally offers low pay and offers few, if any, benefits. There are institutional barriers that force or encourage retirement and downsizing as well as reinforce negative views of older workers. In the U. S. workers are generally expected to work in full employment jobs and then go to full retirement. This results in a sudden loss of valuable insights and productive resources. Innovative programs exist in Sweden and Japan where some programs promote a transition to retirement in which older workers continue to work part time and gradually move into full retirement.