Highlights
- •What is the primary question addressed by this study This paper examines facilitators and barriers to exercising the right to work and access to the labor market among older people with mental health conditions and/or psychosocial disabilities.
- •What is the main finding of this study? Barriers which prevent older people with mental health conditions and/or psychosocial disabilities from participating in the workforce are in the form of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. There are effective interventions to tackle these barriers at the organizational, state and international levels.
- •What is the meaning of the finding?—A UN convention for the rights of older people is needed in order to better address the intersection between advanced age, mental health conditions and/or psychosocial disabilities in the workforce.
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the right to work as a basic human right that should be granted
unrelated to chronological age, health or mental health status and disability including
declining cognitive functioning. The benefits of continued employment are both at
the individual level and at the organizational and societal levels. Nonetheless, there
are multiple barriers that prevent older people and particularly older people with
mental conditions and psychosocial disabilities from remaining in the workforce and/or
from rejoining the workforce. We outline interventions at the organizational, national,
and international levels to ensure the full participation of people of all ages and
abilities in the workforce. Such interventions should address the intersection between
disabilities and advanced age at the global, regional, and country levels.
Key Words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to The American Journal of Geriatric PsychiatryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Benchmarking the right to work.in: Hertel S. Minkler L. Economic Rights: Conceptual, Measurement, and Policy Issues. Cambridge University Press, 2007: 115-142
- ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and Its Follow-up.International Labour Organization, 1998 (Accessed online on June, 1, 2021)
- World Social Protection Report 2017-2019: Universal Social Protection to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.International Labour Organization, Geneva20172019 (Accessed online on June 1, 2021)
- The meaning of work for older adults seeking employment: the generativity factor.Int J Aging Human Dev. 1995; 41: 325-344
- Productive activities and psychological well-being among older adults.J Gerontol. 2008; 63: S64-S72
- Loneliness and depressive symptoms: the moderating role of the transition into retirement.Aging Ment Health. 2018; 22: 135-140
- Retirement and depressive symptoms: a 10-year cross-lagged analysis.Psychiatry Res. 2018; 269: 565-570
- Unraveling the impact of workforce age diversity on labor productivity: the moderating role of firm size and job security.J Organ Behav. 2016; 37: 193-212
- Positive effects of ageing and age diversity in innovative companies–large-scale empirical evidence on company productivity.Human Resource Manage J. 2013; 23: 279-295
- Critical review of literature on workforce diversity.Afr J Business Manage. 2007; 12: 72-76
- Interventions to reduce ageism against older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis.Am J Public Health. 2019; 109: e1-e9
- Employment and Social Protection in the New Demographic Context.International Labour Office, 2013
- Caregiver Statistics: Demographics.2021 (Accessed online on June 1, 2021)
- Economic valuation of informal care.Eur J Health Econ. 2004; 5: 36-45
- Older Workers At Risk of Withdrawing From the Labour Force or Becoming Unemployed: Employers' Views on How to Retain and Attract Older Workers.Canadian Electronic Library, Beaconsfield, Quebec2013 (Accessed online on June 1, 2021)
- Dementia and prescribed disengagement™.Dementia. 2015; 14: 3-6
- Employment services for people with mental health conditions: comparison of age groups.Innov Aging. 2018; 2: 850
- The participation of people with disabilities in the workplace across the employment cycle: employer concerns and research evidence.J Business Psychol. 2020; 35: 135-158
- Employment at Older Ages and the Changing Nature of Work.2008 (Accessed online on June 1, 2021)
- An exploration of the impact of younger-onset dementia on employment.Dementia. 2019; 18: 262-281
- Characteristics of people with severe mental illness who obtain employment.Psychiatrist. 2010; 34: 47-50
- Occupational therapy interventions for employment and education for adults with serious mental illness: a systematic review.Am J Occup Ther. 2011; 65: 238-246
- Supported employment for people with severe mental illness: systematic review and meta-analysis of the international evidence.Br J Psychiatry. 2016; 209: 14-22
- Discrimination reported by older adults living with mental health conditions: types, contexts and association with healthcare barriers.Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2021; 56: 1003-1014
- Evaluating six common stereotypes about older workers with meta-analytical data.Pers Psychol. 2012; 65: 821-858
- Act your (old) age: prescriptive, ageist biases over succession, consumption, and identity.Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2013; 39: 720-734
- Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Discussion Paper.2013: 13 (011)
- Boston College Center for Retirement Research Working Paper.2012 (Accessed online on June 1, 2021)
- Never the right age?.Gender and Age-Based Discrimination in Employment. 11. Work & Organization, 2004: 95-115 (Gender)
- The ‘D’ word: reflections on the relationship between stigma, discrimination and dementia.J Mental Health. 2010; 19: 227-233
- Understanding public-stigma and self-stigma in the context of dementia: a systematic review of the global literature.Dementia. 2020; 19: 148-181
- Social stigma is an underestimated contributing factor to unemployment in people with mental illness or mental health issues: position paper and future directions.BMC Psychol. 2020; 8: 36
- Stereotype embodiment: a psychosocial approach to aging.Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2009; 18: 332-336
- Age-based stereotype threat and work outcomes: stress appraisals and rumination as mediators.Psychol Aging. 2019; 34: 68-84
- A review and meta-analysis of age-based stereotype threat: negative stereotypes, not facts, do the damage.Psychol Aging. 2015; 30: 180
- The self–stigma of mental illness: implications for self–esteem and self–efficacy.J Soc Clin Psychol. 2006; 25: 875-884
- Prevalence and correlates of perceived workplace discrimination among older workers in the United States of America.Ageing Soc. 2011; 31: 1051
- Age discrimination, social closure and employment.Soc Forces. 2007; 86: 313-334
- Work environment and the origin of ageism.(Eds.)in: Ayalon L Tesch-Römer C. Contemporary Perspectives on Ageism. Springer, Cham2018: 73-90
- Ageism and age discrimination in working life.Nordic Psychol. 2016; 68: 160-175
- The Right to Work in Old Age: How EU Employment Directive Still Leaves Older Workers Behind.Age Platform Europe, Brussels2021 (Accessed online on June 2, 2021)
- Dementia and Your Legal Rights.2021 (Accessed online on June 2, 2021)
- Employment strategies for older adults.(Eds)in: Gatchel R.J. Schultz I. Ray I.Z. Handbook of Rehabilitation in Older Adults. Springer, 2018: 281-297
- Age diversity in the workplace: facilitating opportunities with organizational practices.Public Policy Aging Rep. 2020; 30: 119-123
- The success of policies aimed at extending working life.Dev Trends Supporting Dyn Soc Secur. 2007; 51: 51-60
- How time-flexible work policies can reduce stress, improve health, and save money.Stress Health. 2005; 21: 157-168
- Extending Reasonable Accommodation to Older People.2021 (Accessed online on June 2, 2021)
- Global social justice for older people: The case for an international convention on the rights of older people.Br J Soc Work. 2006; 36: 1135-1150
- Temporary exit from employment throughout the life course: an alternative to retirement to challenge ageism and sexism.Crit Soc Policy. 2012; 32: 696-708
Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 01, 2021
Accepted:
June 16,
2021
Received in revised form:
June 13,
2021
Received:
May 7,
2021
Footnotes
Presented by Liat Ayalon with some modifications: 3/2021- The right to work and access to the labor market. UN General Assembly the Open Ending Working Group on Aging for the purpose of strengthening the human rights of older persons, New York, USA (webinar).
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
