activitats
In the ‘greying’ of the European workforce, we find intensifying trends of excess unemployment of older workers and in many EU countries, high levels of early retirement. There is an increasing amount of over 55’s not active on the labour market, but still not eligible for access to a pension. This phenomenon has spread in Europe over the past two decades. Also fundamental to this context, in which social dialogue has a key role, is the significant rate of youth unemployment of a structural nature that has emerged in all EU member states regardless of overall unemployment rates, with unprecedented levels in Italy as well as in Spain, and with increasing levels in such diverse countries as the UK and Poland. Thus, all too often, younger and older age groups (under 25s and over 55s) fall into the category of ‘vulnerable workers.’ Together with other factors, including gender and origin, age may contribute to further forms of exclusion as viewed from an intersectional approach. LinkAge – Labour Market Integration of Vulnerable Age Groups – is an action research project developed to examine age in terms of enabling and constraining activities advanced by trade unions and employers’ representatives in Europe. LinkAge provides research to identify actions aimed at representation, engagement and active inclusion in relation to issues such as ‘active ageing’ and youth employment, framed within the context of recent economic changes and social dialogue. LinkAge will highlight good practice examples on labour market integration of vulnerable age groups from the study’s six countries – Austria, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Spain, UK – as well as at the European comparative level.