This book makes an important contribution to the policy debate about age and the workforce, and will be valuable both to academic researchers interested in the labour market and ageing policy, and to policy makers who wish to understand the diversity of national approaches to a shared agenda. It comprises a set of chapters that describe approaches to the ageing workforce in eight countries, together with an overarching introduction and conclusion, in which Taylor challenges the current policy consensus, shared in all eight, that declining fertility will create labour shortages, intensifying the impact of an extending lifespan on the economic dependency ratio, and that the problem can be solved through extending working life, by encouraging or requiring people to stay in employment later in life, reducing economic dependency, and enlarging the productive workforce.

The national chapters provide richness but sometimes make cross-national comparisons difficult and lead to some unevenness of coverage. The book would have been improved by an attempt to describe or tabulate the key features of each national context, both in terms of policies and statistics (although to some extent the gap can be filled by reference to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's national studies of the ageing workforce).Footnote ¹ Key variables, which are covered by most, but not all, chapters include: the timing of demographic change (with the working age population already falling in some countries but not others); the statistical categories (where an individual in identical circumstances may be defined in one country as ‘retired’, in another as ‘unemployed’, and in a third as ‘sick’ or ‘disabled’); the extent of underpinning social welfare networks and health-care; and the great diversity and complexity of pensions systems (which have major implications for the economics of the retirement decision). Countries also have differing employment laws over, for example, the regulation of contracts of employment, the legality of compulsory retirement and the existence of seniority pay.

In general the book does not encourage the commitment of employers to extend working life, and several chapters highlight the mixed impact of age discrimination legislation. Canadian employers have become more reluctant to recruit older workers because of their new protection, while Dutch ones have reduced the number of ‘age positive’ policies on offer, like flexible working hours or reduced workload. The German chapter reports employers' campaigning actively against age discrimination legislation, and the Dutch chapter reports that their employers see an ageing workforce as a serious disadvantage, with 75 per cent expecting it to increase labour costs, and half expecting both greater resistance to change and higher absenteeism (in stark contrast with UK employers, who report that absenteeism is lower among older workers). Several chapters comment that, despite much discussion of the need for flexible and phased retirement, there is little evidence of its availability.

The book reports several government initiatives, like the French and German schemes to make older workers more attractive to employers through state subsidy. The French model, which offers generous support, including annual skills-audits and training entitlements, seems more positive than the German, by which employers appear to use funding for phased retirement mainly to provide a sabbatical leave period before retirement, effectively no more than renaming ‘early retirement’. Japan is very different, with a statutory compulsory retirement age, after which individuals can return only on much reduced terms, effectively rationing access to mainstream work. The Dutch chapter also highlights very negative perceptions of older people in public policy, that they have only two roles: to collect their pensions, and to consume services from the health sector, with little or no attention to any positive contribution which they might make to the community.

In his introductory and concluding chapters Taylor reflects on the national studies, challenges the prevailing policy consensus, and suggests that policy makers have too readily assumed not only that extending working life is economically feasible, but also that it will be welcomed by older people themselves and will be socially just. With a global rise in the working-age population, employers may prefer to recruit migrants or mid-life women, rather than older people, while older people themselves may be drawn only into low status and marginal work, with damaging effects on income, health and quality of life.

One might counter this view by examining the diversity of individual motivation to work in later life, a topic on which the book says relatively little. Rix points out that as many older people (40%) in the United States want to retire at the earliest opportunity as want to stay on for ever, and that we know relatively little about why men's real retirement ages are rising, especially in the US, UK and Canada. Nor do we know what kind of cultural and social factors produce the extreme variation between Iceland's older labour market participation rate (83%) and Belgium's (33%). Clearly the nature of the work available to older people is important; if, as Taylor suggests, much is demeaning, poorly paid and unrewarding, it is not surprising that few people take it up. Individuals vary greatly, however, with some desperate to retire and some desperate to stay among both senior professionals and manual workers. Furthermore, the kind of work which people seek may change over the life course: a job seen by some as a demotion may provide a welcome reduction in stress for others. This is a difficult area to research, since individuals' aspirations are themselves conditioned by their perceptions of the labour market, and issues of self image. As Taylor points out, in a country with high unemployment, raising retirement ages may redefine some people as ‘unemployed’ rather than ‘retired’, and if one believes that there is no employment, it is more acceptable to be ‘retired’ than ‘unemployed’. This seems to be recognised in France, where early retirement is permitted for people in some physically demanding manual occupations, recognising an entitlement to retirement, rather than the indignity of ‘unemployment’ in a market with no demand for their skills. This may also be socially just, since people from such backgrounds do not, in general, benefit from the same rising life expectancy as their contemporaries in other kinds of employment.

One common strand through the chapters is the need for ‘joined up’ policy. Few countries can claim that there are no incentives to retire early, or penalties for staying later, and in many cases, positive policies are not backed by structures, resources or penalties for non-compliance. This book sheds new light on the differences between countries' approaches to the common policy issues, and highlights some of the issues which policy needs to address. Taylor's overarching argument that we should be cautious about making over-positive assumptions about the benefits of extending working life is timely. The next few years, as most advanced economies experience reduced growth or contract, will provide a testing time. We shall see how the recent upturn in real retirement ages is sustainable in economic downturn, and if not, how we are to find alternative responses to an ageing population and deteriorating dependency ratio. This book provides a valuable resource for those considering the options as this picture evolves.