Working Longer in National Contexts: Comparing Japan and the United States

Abstract

This chapter aims to contribute to our understanding of age-diversity management by clarifying the importance of identifying older workers within their national contexts. While receiving relatively little attention outside cross-national comparative literature, national contexts are powerful determinants of individuals’ labour market behaviours over the course of their working lives (Freeman 2007). Particularly for older workers, national contexts powerfully shape opportunities and decisions at the workplace and in the labour market, including those related to retirement and continued employment beyond conventional retirement ages (Walker 2005).