Work in Progress
Job requirements and lifelong learning for older workers
Summary
- Item:
- 10424
- Title:
- Job requirements and lifelong learning for older workers
- Type:
- Managed research project
- Project no:
- NR07508
- Status:
- Finished
- Date commenced:
- 15 May 2009
- Contact:
- Tabatha Griffin
- phone: 08 8230 8431
- email: tabatha.griffin@ncver.edu.au
- Principal researcher:
- Chris Ryan
- Social Policy Evaluation, Analysis and Research Centre, Australian National University
- Related program:
- Securing their future: Older workers and the role of VET
Purpose
This project will aim to estimate the role of job requirements in determining participation in vocational education and training (VET).
Approach
Quantitative
Research questions
This project will address the following questions:
- If the labour supply of older workers is to increase, is this likely to take place in ‘transition’ jobs, where older workers are employed in less demanding jobs or jobs with shorter hours than their ‘career’ jobs, or by workers remaining longer in their ‘career’ jobs?
- How do the skill requirements of the jobs of individuals change as they age?
- What are the implications of these alternative scenarios (increased labour force participation in transition versus career jobs) for the re-skilling and lifelong learning needs of older workers?
Methodology
The approach in this stage of the research will be to estimate the role of job requirements in determining participation in VET and in on-the-job training across the entire workforce. This would be done using a multivariate regression equation where the dependent variable is whether or not individuals were engaged in education and/or training at the time they were surveyed. The parameters of the equation could then be used to simulate how this participation would change with differing assumptions made about the job requirements of individuals as they age, making alternative assumptions of the way the matching function may change with age, depending on whether individuals stay in their career jobs or move towards transition jobs.
