Ageing and Employment in the Mediterranean: old and new challenges

Population ageing is both a challenge and an opportunity. A challenge to the various welfare regimes, an opportunity to move towards a more comprehensive, sustainable and integrated life-course approach to active ageing. Moving from the premise that a high employment rate is the only way to secure long-term sustainability for any welfare system, this chapter focuses on the policy reforms that have been devised and implemented, at both the national and the local level, to increase the employment rate of elderly people, highlighting the possible trade-offs. While attention is paid to the institutional and economic realities of the Southern European countries, the final section will consider the extent to which the results and recommendations drawn from the analysis of the ageing question in the countries of the Northern Rim can provide a guide to policy for the other Mediterranean countries.