Issue Briefs

No.7 Managing transitions over the life cycle

While significant progress has been made in developing social security systems that mitigate the risks of illness or disability, coverage is more limited for unemployment, maternity/paternity or elder care responsibilities, and few social security systems accommodate workers’ needs for job retraining or lifelong learning. Moreover, changes in labour markets, including not only technological advances but also other developments such as the widespread participation of women in paid employment, merit reflection on whether the institutions created for an industrial age – when lifetime employment with a single employer was the expectation – need to be adapted for the twenty-first century.