Wydłużenie aktywności zawodowej czy przejście na emeryturę? Studium mikroekonomiczne

The ageing of societies has recently become one the most important phenomena shaping social policy in Poland and other developed countries. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly clear that ageing should not be perceived only in terms of threats. Silver economy, age management, and lifelong learning are the notions that become acknowledged by various labour market and social policy stakeholders. The rationale behind these ideas is to make the best use of the potential of people around the retirement, in line with the life cycle concept, but also of new social needs that arise with an increasing proportion of people aged 50+ in the society, and with considerably improving quality of their lives. The discussion presented in the article is limited to problems in extending working life of Poles. The aim of this paper is analysis of the factors influencing the extension of the working life in Poland, from an individual perspective, i.e. by looking at the reasons of individual decisions of people close to the retirement age. The article is both theoretical and empirical in nature, presenting a review of studies including the support for the economic activity of “older” workers, coupled with the outcomes of a statistical analysis carried out in the project „Equal opportunities in the labour market for people aged 50+”.