Mature Employment and Post-Modern Portfolio Living

Abstract

The Mature Employment Service (MES) is a non-governmental organisation that commenced operations in Wellington in 1993. It aims to assist its clients in acquiring the necessary knowledge and training to equip themselves for work, to promote the advantages of employing mature workers and to inculcate positive and adaptive attitudes that build up the self-esteem and initiative of its clients. This paper has two major parts: the first part examines the general problem of mature employment, drawing on both New Zealand and overseas experience. Some Wellington City Council and MES data is also provided on the situation in Wellington. Reference is then made to wider trends in the work environment and the apparent ends to work and jobs that are foreseen by commentators. The second major section looks at potential solutions, reviewing recent policy initiatives in Australia, Great Britain, the United States and New Zealand. This leads to a discussion of the development by MES of assistance to its clients that takes its inspiration from the 'portfolio work' and 'third age' concepts that fall easily within the wider philosophy of post-modernism.