This chapter discusses the application of Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) to sustainable employability (SE). Building on earlier work by the authors, SE is defined as the extent to which workers have the opportunities, support, and motivation to achieve work values they consider important while maintaining their health and well-being throughout their careers. The authors operationalized this perspective through the Capability Set for Work Questionnaire (CSWQ), which assesses seven key work values: using and developing skills, participation in decision-making, meaningful relationships, setting personal goals, earning a fair income, and contributing to something valuable.

The chapter reviews a Delphi study among international experts and summarizes a decade of research conducted in diverse occupational, cultural, and health-related contexts. The findings demonstrate that the capability approach is both scientifically robust and practically useful. Employees with larger capability sets report higher engagement, better performance, greater well-being, and lower burnout. The chapter concludes that sustainable employability is best understood as an interaction between individual capabilities and supportive work environments, requiring collaboration between workers, organizations, and policymakers (download full chapter).