Tobias Karlsson

In this chapter, an individual life story of a shipyard blacksmith is the point of departure for discussing elderly men’s labour market experiences. This story, which can be summarized as occupational continuity in a turbulent period, is in line with an optimistic view of the situation of elderly men in an era of profound changes in the technology and organization of work, is contrasted against the experiences of other men in the same generation. The chapter shows that this individual example is hardly unique. Those who were in middle age in the 1910s and managed to remain in gainful employment in the following decades experienced an improving standard of living, even though their position in relation to younger colleagues worsened. Most of the men also experienced continuity in their occupation. Downward social mobility towards the end of working life happened but was a relatively rare phenomenon. Men with income from business could postpone retirement compared to men with income from employment. However, some men also entered retirement from a period of unemployment. The life stories of these men would, had they been written, have included hardship and hopeless search for jobs or alternative sources of income.