Swedish Adult Education: An Undeveloped Road toward an Extended Working Life: Table 1.

Workforce development has a complex position in the Swedish debate on extending working life. The policy initiatives that have been implemented have focused on how to create financial incentives for older people to work longer. In other words, they are based on the idea that an older person’s labor force participation depends on their economic choices, rather than on exclusion and devaluation in employment on the basis of their age and professional skills. Such an understanding looks like a simplification in light of studies showing that older people are excluded in recruitment processes ( Benedick, Jackson, & Romero, 1996 ; Krekula, 2011 ; Neumark, 2009 ) and that workers age 50 or older are more affected by long-term unemployment in Sweden than their younger counterparts ( Statistics Sweden, 2011 ). The narrow focus in the debate also appears problematic against the backdrop of studies showing that early labor force exit is, to a great extent, connected with poor health and work disability ( Stattin, 2005 ; SOU, 2011 ). To these older workers, the opportunity of retraining and change of profession is described as an important condition for a longer participation in working life ( SOU, 2013 ). Thus, a health and skills perspective needs to be added to the debate on extending working life.