As populations in the United States and around the world continue to age, it has become increasingly important to understand how organizations can create working conditions that attract, support, and retain workers across the lifespan. In this paper, we provide a primer on current theory and research on age in the workplace. We briefly describe lifespan theories that have guided recent advances in the field, discuss the implications of these theories for an aging workforce, and provide an overview of current research streams that address the work and nonwork factors affecting performance, well‐being, and workforce participation among mature workers. Based on this review, we provide recommendations for future research and practice.

Global disruption, technological advances, and population demographics are rapidly affecting the types of jobs that are available and the workers who will fill those jobs in the future of work. Successful workers in the dynamic and uncertain landscape of the workplace of the future will need to adapt rapidly to changing job demands, highlighting the necessity for lifelong learning and development. With few exceptions, industrial-organizational (I-O) psychologists have tended to take an organization-centered perspective on training and development; a perspective that promotes worker development as a means to organizational success. Hence, we call for a broadening of this view to include a person-centered perspective on workplace learning focused on individual skill development. A person-centered perspective addresses lifelong learning and skill development for those already in the labor force, whether they are working within or outside of organizations (e.g., gig workers), or those looking for work. It includes the most vulnerable people currently working or seeking work. We describe the factors affecting the future of work, the need to incorporate a person-centered perspective on work-related skill learning into I-O research and practice, and highlight several areas for future research and practice.

It has become fashionable to equate constructs of working memory (WM) and general intelligence (g). Few investigations have provided direct evidence that WM and g measures yield similar ordering of individuals. Correlational investigations have yielded mixed results. The authors assess the construct space for WM and g and demonstrate that WM shares substantial variance with perceptual speed (PS) constructs. Thirty-six ability tests representing verbal, numerical, spatial, and PS abilities; the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices; and 7 WM tests were administered to 135 adults. A nomological representation for WM is provided through a series of cognitive and PS ability models. Construct overlap between PS and WM is further investigated with attention to complexity, processing differences, and practice effects.