Risks and potentials with flexible employment pathways in late working life in Sweden

Research problem and specific questionsFlexible employment pathways, including self-employment, part-time work and temporary contracts, are becoming increasingly discussed in both policy and research contexts.

Several studies point to the benefits of flexible employment options for prolonging working lives and improving the well-being of older workers, while others emphasise their risks of reducing individuals´ income and employment security.

However, there is still insufficient knowledge on trends in flexible employment pathways in late working life, who benefits from them and under what conditions.

This project aims to contribute to the understanding of the patterns of flexible employment in late working life, to identify the risks and benefits for different social groups in different labour market contexts.

The research questions of the proposed project focus on 1) patterns and trends of different flexible employment pathways for different cohort, gender, education, migration, occupational and sectoral groups; 2) the relationship between flexible employment pathways and the employment outcomes (timing of labour market exit, the type of exit and the financial status); 3) the role of individuals´ life course histories in the link between flexible employment  and the employment outcomes; 4)  the role of labour demand and availability of flexible employment in different sectors, occupations in the link between flexible employment pathways in the employment outcomes.Data and methodsBased on Swedish national registers, this project follows the cohorts born 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950 and 1955 from the age of 25 up to 67.

The statistical methods include cluster analysis, multinomial probit models and multi-level models.Societal relevance and utilisationThe proposed project is relevant to Sweden´s agenda and ongoing policy reforms on equal, prolonged, adaptable, and flexible working life.

The results will contribute with scientific knowledge about patterns, risks, and trends of flexible employment in late working life, as well as for policies to mitigate the risks and enhance the potential of flexible employment for late working life.Plan for project realisationThe project will be caried out by Gülin Öylü, post-doctoral researcher at the unit Ageing and Social Change (ASC) at Linköping University, for three years, building on the results, skills and networks developed in her doctoral thesis.