In parallel with the ageing of the European population, the number of senior workers (that is to say, workers aged 50 and more) is expected to increase in the decades to come. The necessity to maintain senior workers into the labor force (specially to support the sustainability of pensions system) combined with a general trend to delay the retirement age and with the current economical climate, makes the employment of senior workers a burning issue. Significant differences indeed exist between European countries. While Sweden has the highest senior employment rate, France has one of the lowest. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether these differences can be explained through differences in terms of employability. This multidimensional concept is here explored through the analysis of quantitative data collected by the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). These data provide an updated version of the situation of senior employees in France and in Sweden and more specifically of their employability. Some indicators of the latter can be thus defined and will be used to look at differences or similarities between French and Swedish senior workers generally speaking and from a gender perspective. The results have confirmed the role of initial education and long-life training which contribute respectively to the employability capital of workers and affect positively the employment rates. Such indicators are the first steps in the definition of the employability, which make way for further researches opening the definition to the other part of the active labor force (that is to say, the unemployed).

Against the background of the global demographic shift towards an aging workforce and its impacts on the labour market and the economy in industrialized societies, this dissertation pinpoints six salient challenges for future litigation and policy-making in the area of labour and employment discrimination law. These include the global tendency towards abolishing mandatory retirement and increasing the eligibility age for pension benefits; legislative age-based distinctions; cost as a justification for age discrimination; performance appraisals of senior workers; and the duty to accommodate senior workers. At the core of each challenge lies a normative question regarding our conception of senior workers’ right to age equality, its importance and relative weight compared with other rights and interests. The aim of this dissertation is therefore to critically review the current understanding of this right and its moral and economic underpinning. Most notably, the dissertation contends that the prevailing conception of equality assessment (the Complete Lives Approach to equality), according to which equality should be assessed based on a comparison of the total share of resources obtained by individuals over a lifetime, has substantial implications for age discrimination discourse. As it uncovers the numerous difficulties with the complete lives approach, the dissertation develops an alternative: the Dignified Lives Approach to equality, according to which an individual should be treated with equal concern and respect, at any particular time and regardless of any comparison. The dissertation then articulates five essential principles founded in Dworkin’s notion of equal concern and respect: the principle of individual assessment, the principle of equal influence, the principle of sufficiency, the principle of social inclusion, and the principle of autonomy. When one of these principles is not respected at any particular time, a wrong is done, and the right to equality is violated. Next, the dissertation elucidates when and why unequal treatment of senior workers based on age does not respect each of these five principles and therefore constitutes unjust age discrimination. It demonstrates that senior workers’ right to age equality is a fundamental human right. Finally, it examines the above-mentioned challenges through the lens of the new Dignified Lives approach.

Against the background of the global demographic shift towards an aging workforce and its impacts on the labour market and the economy in industrialized societies, this dissertation pinpoints six salient challenges for future litigation and policy-making in the area of labour and employment discrimination law. These include the global tendency towards abolishing mandatory retirement and increasing the eligibility age for pension benefits; legislative age-based distinctions; cost as a justification for age discrimination; performance appraisals of senior workers; and the duty to accommodate senior workers. At the core of each challenge lies a normative question regarding our conception of senior workers’ right to age equality, its importance and relative weight compared with other rights and interests. The aim of this dissertation is therefore to critically review the current understanding of this right and its moral and economic underpinning. Most notably, the dissertation contends that the prevailing conception of equality assessment (the Complete Lives Approach to equality), according to which equality should be assessed based on a comparison of the total share of resources obtained by individuals over a lifetime, has substantial implications for age discrimination discourse. As it uncovers the numerous difficulties with the complete lives approach, the dissertation develops an alternative: the Dignified Lives Approach to equality, according to which an individual should be treated with equal concern and respect, at any particular time and regardless of any comparison. The dissertation then articulates five essential principles founded in Dworkin’s notion of equal concern and respect: the principle of individual assessment, the principle of equal influence, the principle of sufficiency, the principle of social inclusion, and the principle of autonomy. When one of these principles is not respected at any particular time, a wrong is done, and the right to equality is violated. Next, the dissertation elucidates when and why unequal treatment of senior workers based on age does not respect each of these five principles and therefore constitutes unjust age discrimination. It demonstrates that senior workers’ right to age equality is a fundamental human right. Finally, it examines the above-mentioned challenges through the lens of the new Dignified Lives approach.

L’invecchiamento della popolazione in atto, l’entrata in massa della donna nel mercato del lavoro, verificata negli ultimi anni, l’aumento delle aspettative di vita e l’allungamento dell’età pensionabile con la Riforma Fornero-Monti, contribuiscono al mutamento della morfologia della famiglia, dei contesti lavorativi e della società nel complesso rendendo palese l’esigenza di comprendere meglio le dinamiche che questi cambiamenti comportano. Nonostante l’invecchiamento delle lavoratrici rappresenti un cambiamento importante, non ci sono ancora molti studi che hanno analizzato questo fenomeno. Il presente studio ha avuto l’obiettivo di comprendere e far luce sulle caratteristiche delle lavoratrici over 50, in particolar modo conoscere le peculiarità delle loro relazioni familiari/extra-lavorative e lavorative attraverso il concetto sociologico di Capitale sociale ritenuto di estrema importanza per comprendere il potenziale delle lavoratrici. La ricerca ha coinvolto, attraverso la compilazione di un questionario, 4962 lavoratrici tra i 50 e i 69 anni di 18 aziende associate a Valore D, su tutto il territorio italiano. Dallo studio emerge che le lavoratrici hanno ancora un buon livello di potenziale e che il CSF e CSL possono rivestire un ruolo importante come risorsa nella vita delle donne in questa fase di vita, ma anche per le aziende e la società stessa. / The aging of the population, the mass entry of women into the labor market, verified in recent years, the increase in life expectancy and the lengthening of the retirement age with the Fornero-Monti Reform, contributed to the change of the morphology of the family, of working contexts and of society as a whole, making clear the need to better understand the dynamics that these changes entail. Although the aging of female workers represents an important change, this phenomenon has not been analyzed yet. The present study aims to understand and shed light on the characteristics of of workers over 50, especially to know the peculiarities of their family / extra-work and work relationships through the sociological concept of Social Capital considered of extreme importance to understand the potential of female workers. The research involved 4962 workers between 50 and 69 years of 18 companies associated with Valore D, throughout Italy, who completed a questionnaire. The study shows that female workers still have a good level of potential and that the CSF and CSL can play an important important role as a resource for women in this phase of their life, but also for companies and society itself.