A critical comparative policy analysis: Older worker retention in Canada and Sweden

Population ageing across OECD countries has cultivated an interest in policies to extend working life. However, the ability to extend working life is unequal between job sectors, with older workers engaged in physically demanding work already experiencing challenges to working until a pensionable age. When countries implement policies to extend working life without ensuring support for disadvantaged workers, social inequalities are inflated. To better understand how these inequalities transpire, we conducted a critical comparative policy analysis of laws and policies encouraging older worker retention in Canada and Sweden. We included 13 (6 Canadian, 7 Swedish) legal and policy documents for analysis with content related to pension and sickness/injury benefits, work environment, and/or worker rights. Findings were grouped into five categories: (1) healthy work environment regulation, (2) legislative support when injured or ill, (3) universally applied vs individualised laws and policies, (4) flexible work arrangements, and (5) underlying problem representations. These problem representations provide rationales for observed differences in policy support for older workers in physically demanding jobs: Canada’s approach for encouraging retention is rooted in reducing the number of workers dependent on social security, while Sweden’s approach aims to boost productivity of the workforce by bolstering worker health and well-being. We conclude with recommendations for improving support for older workers in physically demanding jobs, including social investment policies to support worker health and well-being across the life course, increased opportunities for flexible work arrangements, equality in working conditions between gendered job sectors, the removal of mandatory retirement practices, and pension reform.