The increasing labour shortage in Germany is bringing the employment of older workers into focus. Although their employment rate has increased, older people find it more difficult to get a job and experience discrimination when looking for work. In some companies, the outdated stereotype that older people are less productive still seems to prevail. On the other hand, companies predominantly report positive experiences with newly hired older workers. In order to increase the labour market opportunities of older people, the state needs to intensify its labour market and anti-discrimination policies, and employers and job seekers must adapt their behaviour.
© 2025 Claus Schnabel, Juliane List, published by ZBW – Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.