1 Age, Occupations, and Opportunities for Older Workers in Germany- First draft-

Abstract: Improvement of the labor market situation for the elderly is a declared target in the EU. The reason is demographic change: ageing and the perspective of shrinking of the labor force threaten the achieved level of economic prosperity and impose search for new strategies to keep the elderly in work. In this paper we investigate the interplay between age structure and employment as well as re-employment opportunities for older workers in Germany. The analysis is conducted on the level of occupations. What characteristics of jobs promote employment and re-employment of elderly workers? We are able to confirm and substantially extent previous findings. Thus, we show that education, skills, training requirements, and the compensation structure either affect mainly male employees or affect males and females differently. Furthermore, working conditions and arrangements exert a clear-cut influence on employment and re-employment at older ages. This reveals possible directions for future policy