Uruguayan Workers Retirement and Social Security (El Retiro de los Trabajadores Uruguayos y la Seguridad Social)

Abstract

We analyze recent trends of the activity rates and retirement of Uruguayan old age workers. We find that in Uruguay, unlike in several developed countries and most Latin American countries, the activity rates of old-age men are not falling. On the contrary, in recent decades the activity rate of old age men has been growing in Uruguay. In the case of women, the activity rate is rising, like in most other countries, but the pace of this process accelerated in the aftermath of the 1996 social security reform. The minimum retirement age seems to be playing a key role in the retirement of Uruguayan workers. We find peaks of retirement at the minimum retirement age and a gradual increase of the retirement age of women which seems to be linked to the increase of the minimum pension age disposed in the 1996 social security reform.