Who Wants to be a Working Retiree? Prerequisites and Working Conditions for People Combining Work and Retirement in the Temporary Staffing Sector

Research problem and specific questionsThis project explores the employment landscape of non-standard employment (NSE) tailored for working retirees in Sweden, focusing on the temporary staffing sector. Today, NSEs for older adults are a contemporary feature of a labour market on the rise. However, knowledge is limited of the quality of work as well as the experiences working in such employment settings.

With a strong societal strive for a prolonged working life, it is a vital research task to study and map how working conditions for working retirees evolve.

Therefore, this project seeks to understand (1) how the employment history of working retirees shapes their trajectory toward non-standard employment in the temporary staffing sector, and (2) working retirees’ experiences of non-standard employment regarding working conditions, including job autonomy, income, work safety, health, motives, work fulfilment, and the employee-employer relationship.Data and methodThis project will merge longitudinal register and survey data with qualitative in-depth interview data of working retirees employed in the temporary staffing sector.

Employing an explorative mixed-methods approach, this study will contrast statistical trends with individual narratives to uncover unique patterns and relationships.

These insights, potentially obscured in isolated studies, will emerge through the synergistic analysis of quantitative and qualitative data.Societal relevance and utilisationThe high level of scientific impact that this project will have is equally matched by the societal relevance it will have in the wider community for policymakers, employers, unions, working retirees and NGOs with a focus on working retirees.

By providing valuable knowledge of the characteristics of working retirees and working conditions in this evolving employment landscape, we will also provide information on how to ensure a sustainable and equitable prolonged working life, for both older and younger workers.Plan for project realisationThis three-year project has great conditions for the implementation because (1) the quantitative register and survey data are already in place and ready to be processed, and (2) one of the largest Swedish temporary staffing agencies has agreed for us to use their channels to recruit participants for the qualitative study.

The costs mainly consist of the salaries of the multidisciplinary research team, the qualitative data collection and travel expenses.