Between Accommodating and Activating: The Role of Employment Policies in Framing Workforce Aging Across Europe

• In Event: Organizational Communication Research Escalator - Extended Session (Part 1)

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, policy reforms have focused on activating older workers, by replacing accommodating measures (e.g., offering possibilities for early retirement) with active aging policies (e.g., encouraging career development). This study aims to investigate variation in issue-specific news frames that are either in favor of or against active aging policies, and attributions of responsibility for dealing with the issue of older workers’ employability across diverse actors. The data came from a content analysis of 1362 news articles in broadsheet and tabloid newspapers from The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Denmark, and Spain in the timespan 2006 – 2013. Results shows that news frames are only partly in line with the active aging paradigm. Specifically, in the debate about older workers’ employability, both frames in favor and against active aging policies prevail. Which of both frame perspectives is dominant on the news agenda proved to be contingent upon source-, newspaper-, and country characteristics.

Authors

• Anne Cornelia Kroon, University of Amsterdam, ASCOR

• Martine van Selm, Amsterdam School of Communication Research