Aging & Social Change: Twelfth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

The increasing use of computers in the workplace can be a challenge for older workers. These older workers had already started their working careers when computers became common, and they needed to modify their way of working to accommodate this change. Previous research showed that older workers often struggle to pick up computer skills on their jobs. Moreover, they are less likely than younger workers to participate in workplace training to obtain computer skills. As a result, their skills may become outdated. Some researchers argue that as a result, older workers may become more interested in early retirement, and they may also run a higher risk of being made redundant than younger workers do. This study expands on the suggested connection between older workers’ familiarity with computers and their retirement age. It explores this connection from a life-course perspective, asking whether the decisive factor is the computer skills that older workers hold or the experience with computers they accumulated throughout their working careers. Moreover, it asks whether country-characteristics, such as retirement regulations, modify the influence of computer experience and skills. To study these questions, regression analyses of micro-level data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe are carried out. The Danish, Finnish, and Swedish retrospective life-history interviews from wave 7 of this dataset are analyzed. The analyses are stratified by country to investigate country differences. Findings enhance our understanding of older workers, their retirement transition, and computer-induced workplace changes.