Peer-reviewed article
Barriers and Facilitators of Older Workers' Abilities to Obtain and Maintain Employment: A Scoping Review.
Lai J, Eales J, Lariviere M, Boger J, Fast J ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This scoping review examines factors affecting employment outcomes for workers aged 50 and older. It analyzes 244 academic and grey literature articles using Human Ecology Theory to identify barriers and facilitators across individual, family, workplace, and sociopolitical contexts. The review concludes that older workers' employability results from complex interactions across these multiple contexts rather than single factors.
Key points
- Four key contexts impact older workers' employability: individual (health, skills, employment history), family (caregiving obligations), workplace (policies, job characteristics), and sociopolitical (ageism, government policies)
- Older workers' employability is fluid, situational and temporal, shaped by cumulative life course advantages and disadvantages
- The review included 244 academic and grey literature articles
- Policies to support older workers require recognition of dynamic lived experiences across multiple life domains
Limitations
This review concerns workers aged 50 and older and does not address child well-being, development, protection or participation. It is therefore outside the scope of child-focused research.
Abstract
Throughout adulthood, the ability to access employment is vital for financial well-being, social inclusion and civic participation. This scoping review explores the factors that facilitate or challenge the abilities of workers age 50 and older to obtain and maintain paid employment. A total of 244 academic and grey literature articles were included in this scoping review. To frame the data extraction and analysis of included literature, we drew on Human Ecology Theory, a multidisciplinary theory that posits that individuals affect and are affected by the contexts they inhabit. Four key contexts were identified that impact older workers' employability (and the relevant codes that comprise each context): individual context (health, income and wealth accumulation, education and skills, employment history, lifestyle preferences and personal characteristics); family context (obligations with intimate partners, obligations to dependent children and caregiving obligations); workplace context (organizational characteristics, workplace policies, job characteristics and workplace relationships) and sociopolitical context (ageism, government labour and pension policies and macroeconomic conditions). We conclude that the employability of older workers is not attributable to a single factor within any of these contexts. Rather, older workers' abilities to maintain their labour force participation are fluid, situational and temporal, including aspects that arise across a person's life course as forms of cumulative advantage or disadvantage. Policies to support older workers' labour force participation require governments and employers to recognize how the dynamic lived experiences and relationships of individuals-within families, workplaces and society-shape their employability in later life.