In his new book, “Unfinished Work: The Struggle to Build an Aging American Workforce,” IU Professor Joseph Coleman pushed the limit on the idea of what an older employee can do.
Published by Oxford University Press, the book takes readers to four countries to show how businesses, governments and individuals engage and include the aging workforce, according to a press release from the University.
“For a variety of reasons, we will want to or have to work later in life,” Coleman said in the release. “One of the great challenges for societies and companies is to develop effective strategies to make room for older workers in the workplace.”
The project started with an earlier story in which Coleman profiled an agricultural cooperative in southwestern Japan where organizers “put aging residents to work by selling leaves and flowers as seasonal garnishes for high-class restaurants,” according to the release.
During his time in Tokyo as the chief of the Associated Press’ Tokyo bureau, Coleman focused his work on how the country’s low fertility rates and high life expectancy led to a change in dynamics for the aging population.
But this occurrence wasn’t specific to Japan. In industrialized societies, having children or larger families is expensive, he said in the release. Less children mean less people are needed to fulfill workplace demand. Because of this employment trend, there is less support going toward social programs and national pension systems.
To offset this trend, countries are starting to raise the retirement age, according to the release.
“This is something that many countries will face sooner or later,” Coleman said in the release.
This idea eventually bloomed into the theme for his book. Coleman received two grants through the Abe Fellowship, offered by the Social Science Research Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., to financially aid his research.
The two grants funded trips to Japan, France, Sweden and around the United States. In total, Coleman traveled 50,000 miles to conduct research for the book.
Part of his research involved him reaching out to companies known to employ older workers.
“I was looking for companies that for one reason or another found it advantageous and profitable to hold on to or attract older workers,” Coleman said.
This took him back to Japan, which Coleman said can serve as a preview for what other countries can expect. In his research, he also went to France to look at difficulties in boosting labor force participation rates among older workers and Sweden so he could examine its success in maintaining high labor force participation until the standard retirement age of 65.
“What I was most concerned with in this book is bringing to life the stories of individuals grappling with this issue,” Coleman said in the release. “Those individuals include workers, employers, policymakers and researchers.”
Audrey Perkins
