Sustainable employability
Sustainable employability generally refers to employees' capacities to function in work and on the labor market throughout their working lives. The topic emerged in response to population aging and the pressure that puts on retirement systems. This pressure requires the maximization of participation in paid work to be able to maintain valued retirement systems and other societally valued institutions developing their knowledge and skills; c) being involved in important decisions regarding their work; d) building meaningful relationships in work; e) setting their own goals in work; f) earning a good income via work; and g) contributing to creating something valuable in work. Importantly, this approach recognizes that work environments are crucial in facilitating people to work. However, the approach has received some criticism, as capabilities constitute both characteristics of individuals and their employment context, which complicates separating cause and effect.
Most recent approaches to sustainable employability integrate the above ideas and resolve their limitations. They do so by recognizing sustainable employability as an integrative concept that consists of several aspects of functioning, emphasizing the long term component of sustainability and the need for longitudinal research, and positioning sustainable employability as an outcome of interacting work, work contextual and individual characteristics.
As the field of sustainable employability research matures, research increasingly considers sustainable employability of specific groups of workers or segments of the labor market. Additionally, this initially Northern European topic is now increasingly studied in other parts of the world and particularly those that face similar labor market or social security systems issues.