Promoting Better Career Choices for Longer Working Lives
Stepping Up Not Stepping Out
The transition towards a green economy, the rapid development of new digital technologies and cultural change are some of the forces disrupting traditional career paths, resulting in more fluid and diversified career trajectories. To benefit from increased longevity, workers will increasingly have to consider job mobility at middle and older ages, changing jobs or careers more frequently than in the past. Making successful career transitions, however, tends to be more difficult for workers at older ages due to health issues, unfamiliarity with relevant technology or a lack of recent job search experience. This may result in a mismatch between the types of jobs they want and the jobs that employers may provide. This report presents evidence on recent trends in career mobility and the consequences for individual workers in terms of pay and other job characteristics. It identifies key employer and public policies that can help facilitate career mobility that results in better employment choices at older ages. This requires overcoming discriminatory views towards older workers, improving job flexibility choices and ensuring that government policy supports voluntary career mobility.
Foreword
The digital revolution, the green transition and rising longevity are giving rise to more fluid, fragmented and diverse career paths spread out over a longer lifespan. Consequently, workers across the globe are rethinking their career ambitions and increasingly face the prospect of having to seek new job opportunities and switch careers at middle and older ages. The rate of job changes has increased in recent decades and according to the 2022 AARP Global Employee Survey, almost one in two workers aged 45 and above hopes to or expects to change jobs within the next three years.
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