Digital Transformation and the Aging Workforce : Inequalities and Health Impacts Across Europe

This book emerges at a moment when Europe is confronting two profound and interconnected transformations: the digitalisation of work and the ageing of its workforce.

This book emerges at a moment when Europe is confronting two profound and interconnected transformations: the digitalisation of work and the ageing of its workforce. Drawing on comparative insights from 22 European countries and the collaborative work of COST Action CA21107: "Work Inequalities in Later Life Redefined by Digitalisation", the volume brings these developments into dialogue rather than treating them as separate policy or research concerns. It asks how digital change reshapes work inequalities, health, inclusion, and opportunity in later working life. Through an introductory chapter and 22 country chapters, the book offers a rich, context-sensitive account of how older workers experience digital transformation across diverse labour markets, institutions, and social settings. It synthesises existing knowledge on how work inequalities in later life are redefined by digitalisation, examines the impact of digitalised work environments on older workers’ health, and identifies best practices for understanding and overcoming digital challenges among older people across Europe. In doing so, the volume highlights both the risks of exclusion, technostress, and widening inequality, and the possibilities opened by inclusive technologies, lifelong learning, age-sensitive workplace design, and supportive public policies. It invites scholars, policymakers, employers, and practitioners to rethink digitalisation not only as a technological transition, but also as a social challenge that must be shaped deliberately to support fair, healthy, and sustainable working lives for all generations.