Journal article

Activation and Active Ageing? Mature-Age Jobseekers' Experience of Employment Services

D Bowman, M McGann, H Kimberley, S Biggs

Social Policy and Society | CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS | Published : 2016

Abstract

The number of mature-age Australians registered with employment services is growing, with mature-age jobseekers spending longer unemployed and on income support than younger jobseekers. However, the role of employment services in extending working lives has so far received little attention in policy discourses on ageing and employment. This article examines the effectiveness of Australia's employment services system in supporting mature-age jobseekers, drawing upon interviews conducted as part of wider research on unemployment and underemployment in mature-age. We find that the overriding experience among mature-age jobseekers' is of a system that exudes 'carelessness'. We situate mature-age..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by ARC


Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

The research for this article was funded by ARC Linkage Grant LP120100624. The authors would like to thank the Australian Research Council and project partners, Jobs Australia and the Brotherhood of St Laurence, for their support. We are also grateful to the reviewers, whose insightful comments and suggestions helped to strengthen this article.