Age Pension Research Articles

The crumbling pillar: Assessing the impact of housing costs on recent trends in poverty and deprivation in Australia

AbstractHomeownership has traditionally been high in Australia, where a broad range of tax and social security concessions are designed to promote ownership and reduce housing costs for owners. These have allowed homeowning age pensioners to avoid poverty despite receiving a pension that is low by international standards among high‐income countries. This approach provides the fourth pillar of the Australian retirement income support system, an example of ‘Australian exceptionalism’. We examine recent trends in two measures of social disadvantage—poverty and deprivation—focusing on the changing role and impact of homeownership and housing costs. The comparisons reveal important differences in how housing costs are incorporated into the estimation of their impact and in how different social groups have fared, although our findings also indicate that the groups with highest incidence of poverty and deprivation have benefited least from the gains that others experienced over the period examined.

Financial Literacy and Retirement Spending: A University Student Perspective

AbstractFinancial provision for retirement consists of two phases, accumulation and decumulation. Young people as an age group have generally been ignored in previous research and there has been little research investigating financial literacy levels of young people and attitudinal aspects of their decision making. As such, this paper examines university students’ views on decumulation. We find that student predictions of their costs in retirement are inaccurate, and this is driven by overconfidence and somewhat mitigated by better financial literacy. Furthermore, when planning for retirement income, the Age Pension is expected to be used the least while interestingly personal savings are expected to be used more than superannuation. The biggest drivers of the different levels of usage for the different funding sources are opinions on the effectiveness and understanding of superannuation. These results demonstrate that there is a lack of understanding of the costs of living and the characteristics of the different pillars of the Australian retirement system. Increasing skills and knowledge in financial literacy and of the Australian retirement system is paramount. The implications of our findings are of interest to government, finance professionals and academics from an education and research perspective.

The Aging and Retirement: A Comparative Study on the Pension Policy in South Korea and Indonesia

The aging group in society faces challenging situations in most countries. This paper discusses comparing the aging challenge and pension policy to overcome the problems. As one of the most aging population countries globally, South Korea has become a good representative to learn about the aging context. Meanwhile, Indonesia as a populous country with a gradually growing aging population from year to year. The article analyses that even though South Korea and Indonesia have a similar threat for aging population growth, these two countries face different situations. South Korea faces a low fertility threat, and Indonesia faces poverty in the aging population. Therefore, pension policy as social security and protection are discussed through the state and corporate pillars in implementing the pension scheme. However, the pension policy implementation in South Korea should be supported by strengthening social networks to enhance the elderly group. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, there is a need to increase people's awareness in participating in the pension plan to enhance life quality in the old ages.

Implications of COVID-19 labour market shock for child and household hungers in South Africa: Do social protection programs protect?'

BackgroundRecent studies have confirmed that the COVID-19 lockdown has caused massive job losses. However, the impact of this loss on food security is not well-understood. Moreover, a paucity of evidence exists regarding social protection grants’ countervailing effects against such shocks. This study examined the effects of job loss (labour income loss) on child and household hungers (our two measures food insecurity) during COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. It also ascertained whether these effect were offset by alternative social grant programs to document the protective role of the latter.Data and methodsWe used South Africa’s National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) and the Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (CRAM) data. These data cover a nationally representative sample of 7073 individuals. We employed a probit model to estimate the effect of job loss and receipts of various social grants on child and households’ hungers. We also estimated the double-selection logit model to account for the model’s uncertainty surrounding the variable selection and treatment-effects estimation using lasso (Telasso) for causal inference of our analysis.ResultsOur analyses showed that households exposed to a labour market shock during the pandemic experienced a significant increase in our measures of food insecurity (child and household hungers). Specifically, we found that compared with households containing employed respondents, households with respondents who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 lockdown were 5.4% more likely to report child hunger and 2.6% more likely to report household hunger in the past seven days A receipt of child support grant reduces the likelihood of reporting child hunger and household hunger by 21.7%and 16.9% respectively among these households. A receipt of old age pension grant reduces the likelihood of reporting household hunger by 24% with no significant effect on child hunger.ConclusionThe COVID-19 lockdown resulted in unprecedent job losses with significant implications for food insecurity. Job loss due to COVID-19 lockdown significantly increased food insecurity in South Africa. Receipts of social grants effectively offset this adverse effect. The protective effect of the social grant is heterogenous across its alternative programs (child support grant and old age pension grant) and food insecurity, suggesting the differences in the size of transfers and motivations for sending these transfers.

Penerapan Fitur Firebase Cloud Messaging Pada Sistem Kontrol Pembayaran Iuran BPJS Ketenagakerjaan Berbasis Mobile

BPJS of Employment is the organizer of a social security program that functions to protect workers through four employment social security programs, namely Work Accident Insurance, Old Age Security, Death Security, and Pension Security. Information regarding the payment of BPJS Employment Contributions is an important factor in supporting social security programs for workers and employees. This is because there are still many participants who are in arrears in payment of the BPJS Employment Contribution and there is no immediate information regarding the payment of the BPJS Employment Contribution. In this study, an application was made so that an administrator could send notification messages regarding the payment of the BPJS Employment Monthly Contribution to participants and could receive reports on the payment of contributions that have been made by participants. The system design this time was assisted by Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) technology which functions as a web service. Messages that have been sent can be stored in a database that can be viewed on the admin web page. The results of this study are successful in building a BPJS employment payment control application by implementing the mobile-based Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) feature. This application can send notifications to participants regarding due information on dues payments in real time. Makes it easier for participants to get the latest information quickly. For the tests carried out using the functionality testing of the system by performing simulations on each function of the system made and concluded that the system functions can run well

Heterogeneity in optimal investment and drawdown strategies in retirement

We investigate optimal investment and drawdown strategies in retirement and show that the asset mix and drawdown strategy vary significantly with preferences and other retiree attributes. Loss aversion preferences lead to hedging strategies to secure the target consumption through use of immediate life and deferred life annuities, asset allocation and drawdown decisions. Risk aversion preferences lead to use of annuities to smooth and set a minimum level of consumption, with the strategies adopted varying with risk aversion. Welfare gains are more dependent on annuitisation decisions under loss aversion, and drawdown levels under risk aversion. A means-tested and government-provided Age Pension influences decisions of the risk averse but not the loss averse retiree.

Regulating the retirement age—Lessons from Nordic pension policy approaches

AbstractThe likelihood that longevity will continue to increase has generated a search for regulation that make people work longer as they live longer, and thus not just containing pension expenditure but also enlarging labor supply, economic growth, and tax revenue. In public pension policy, Nordic countries have led the world with three types of approaches aimed at making people retire later. The first came when Sweden, followed by Finland and Norway, installed life expectancy coefficients in benefit calculation formulas. The second followed as Finland introduced age‐related accrual rates and the third when Denmark indexed the pensionable age to developments in life expectancy. Since economic incentive‐based regulations failed to raise exit ages sufficiently, Finland and Sweden subsequently linked pensionable ages to life expectancy like Denmark. While this policy brings out inequalities in health and workability, the fact that countries found it necessary to index the pensionable age to longevity instead of just relying on economic incentives in regulating retirement behavior may hold lessons for other countries.

Functional recovery after first episode psychosis rehabilitation in an early intervention psychosis center in Iceland

Because of the early onset and disabling symptoms of schizophrenia spectrum disorders many individuals with these disorders are unemployed from an early age and disability pension rates are high. The aim of this study was to assess functional recovery and identify vocational predictors among young first episode psychosis patients registered in an early intervention psychosis center in Iceland in 2010-2020. The study is a retrospective cohort study based on the medical records of those who were discharged from Laugaras, the only early intervention psychosis program in Iceland after six months or longer rehabilitation in 2010-2020 (n=144). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to identify vocational predictors. 75% of patients were unemployed at admission to the early intervention center but over half of the patients were employed or in school at discharge. Vocational rehabilitation was the strongest vocational predictor (OR 13.93, 95% CI 3.85-63.89). Other vocational predictors were those that reflect a disabling psychiatric disorder and social functioning before the onset of early intervention. 66% of patients had a history of cannabis use which had a negative impact on employment and education at discharge. In spite of intensive rehabilitation at an early intervention center, almost half of the patients were neither employed nor in school at discharge. The strongest vocational predictor was vocational rehabilitation which was also one of few vocational predictors that can be influenced by admission to an early intervention psychosis center. It therefore seems important to ensure that effective vocational rehabilitation is readily available at early intervention psychosis centers.

PELATIHAN MANAJEMEN DIRI DAN LITERASI KEUANGAN PADA ANGGOTA CREDIT UNION

COVID-19 pandemic affects every aspect of human life, including economic aspect. The government urged the implementation of social restriction policy, and as consequences, public activities are limited. According to Credit Union’s board members, there is an increase of loans rate since the social restriction begin. It is inevitable since essential needs are increasing and at the same time the financial conditions are unstable. All of the members in Credit Union Pangudi Luhur Kasih Semarang need to manage their financial issues properly regardless of their age especially in this pandemic time. Thus, this community service program aims to give better understandings to the members about the importance of self-management and financial literation by webinar. Webinar was divided into three sections according to the audiences characteristics, members who had already married (n=100), close to pension age (n=334), and young member or singles (n=169). Based on the analyses, there is significant differences between pre-test and post-test score after conducting the webinar.

Impact of social protection on gender equality in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of reviews.

Impact of social protection on gender equality in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of reviews.

Does retirement affect voluntary work provision? Evidence from Europe and the U.S.

We examine whether retirement has a causal effect on the frequency of voluntary work provision in Europe and the U.S. We draw on data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the Health Retirement Study for the period 2009–2017 and use eligibility ages for old age pensions in an instrumental variable estimation to address endogeneity. We find that retirement increases the frequency of voluntary work provision in all countries.

Informality and Pension Reforms in Bolivia: The Case of Renta Dignidad

How social protection programmes affect work choices is a question that has been at the centre of labour economics research for decades. More recently, a scant literature has focused on the effects of social protection on work choices and informal employment in the context of low and middle-income countries. This paper contributes to this scant literature by examining the effect of Bolivia’s Renta Dignidad, a universal non-contributory old age pension that covers all Bolivians aged 60 years and older. We exploit the discontinuity introduced by the age eligibility criteria of the programme and the timing of the announcement of the programme, to implement a difference-in-differences approach. Overall, we find that Renta Dignidad has no detrimental effects on labour force participation and the intensity of labor of adult members of beneficiary households. Instead, we find that the pension reduces the intensity of work for girls aged 12–18 living with a pensioner, which indicates a positive effect on intra-household time allocation. In terms of work choices, Renta Dignidad reduces the probability of holding a salaried job in rural areas by about 8 percentage points, which denotes a shift from formal to informal employment.

Projecting years in good health between age 50\u201369 by education in the Netherlands until 2030 using several health indicators - an application in the context of a changing pension age

ObjectiveWe investigate whether there are changes over time in years in good health people can expect to live above (surplus) or below (deficit) the pension age, by level of attained education, for the past (2006), present (2018) and future (2030) in the Netherlands.MethodsWe used regression analysis to estimate linear trends in prevalence of four health indicators: self-assessed health (SAH), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) functional limitation indicator, the OECD indicator without hearing and seeing, and the activities-of-daily-living (ADL) disability indicator, for individuals between 50 and 69 years of age, by age category, gender and education using the Dutch National Health Survey (1989–2018). We combined these prevalence estimates with past and projected mortality data to obtain estimates of years lived in good health. We calculated how many years individuals are expected to live in good health above (surplus) or below (deficit) the pension age for the three points in time. The pension ages used were 65 years for 2006, 66 years for 2018 and 67.25 years for 2030.ResultsBoth for low educated men and women, our analyses show an increasing deficit of years in good health relative to the pension age for most outcomes, particularly for the SAH and OECD indicator. For high educated we find a decreasing surplus of years lived in good health for all indicators with the exception of SAH. For women, absolute inequalities in the deficit or surplus of years in good health between low and high educated appear to be increasing over time.ConclusionsSocio-economic inequalities in trends of mortality and the prevalence of ill-health, combined with increasing statutory pension age, impact the low educated more adversely than the high educated. Policies are needed to mitigate the increasing deficit of years in good health relative to the pension age, particularly among the low educated.

Older Migrants and Overcoming Employment Barriers: Does Community Activism Provide the Answer?

As populations age and pension ages rise, there is a growing interest in the ability of workers to extend working life. In response to a call for a more robust dialogue on the heterogeneity of the older workforce, this article explores the interplay between different employment barriers faced by one group facing significant employment barriers: older migrants. Older Chinese migrants in the United Kingdom face multiple barriers to work resulting from age, ethnicity and the intersectionality of such barriers which creates a unique set of barriers to continued work. Community activism can play an important role in supporting older constituents, particularly in matching the skills which they have to offer with the needs within and beyond the migrant community. In this study, we use Participatory Action Research to explore with older Chinese migrants the barriers they face in the job market and how community activism can empower them in maintaining employment. As government seeks to raise real retirement ages, more research is needed on its implications for vulnerable groups of older people including migrants.

Prevalence of Varicose Veins Among Nurses in Different Departments in Jazan Public Hospitals, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Varicose veins (VV) in the lower limbs are the most prevalent vascular condition in humans. They can cause significant signs and symptoms and, in extreme cases, death. This study aims to investigate the prevalence and identify the risk factors for varicose veins among nurses working in multiple departments at Jazan King Fahd Central Hospital and Prince Muhammad bin Nasser Hospital. A cross-sectional study was conducted by sending a questionnaire to female and male nurses in these hospitals. This study included 482 nurses, 415 (86.1%) of whom were female and 67 (13.9%) male. The prevalence of varicose veins among the nurses of both hospitals was 76 (15.8%), compared with 406 (84.2%) not diagnosed with varicose veins. The prevalence of varicose veins was 67 (88.2%) in female nurses, compared with 9 (11.8%) in male nurses. The risk factors associated with varicose veins were ethnicity (p = 0.007), carrying heavy items (p = 0.001), lack of exercise (p = 0.031), family history (p = 0.001), use of hormonal therapy (p = 0.001), use of contraceptive pills (p = 0.0035), type of delivery (p = 0.002), number of children (p = 0.004), and hours sitting per shift (p = 0.002). The comorbidities associated with varicose veins were deep vein thrombosis (p = 0.001), hypertension (p = 0.002), chronic constipation (p = 0.006), diabetes (p = 0.001), kidney disease (p = 0.001), rheumatoid arthritis (p = 0.001), coronary artery disease, and severe occupational injury to the lower extremities (p = 0.001). Nurses are responsible for most of the health system's services. Increasing the number of nursing workers for patient care, encouraging physical exercise, and lowering the pension age appear to be required to avoid the occurrence and development of varicose veins among nurses.

Technology, labour market institutions and early retirement

Abstract There are two important barriers to increasing the employment of older workers under rapid technological change. First, older workers engaged in codifiable, routine tasks are particularly prone to the risk of being displaced by computers and robots. Second, several countries have in place various labour market institutions that encourage early retirement, such as exceptional entitlements or looser criteria for unemployment and disability benefits applied to older individuals. We present evidence that these two factors reinforce each other to push older workers out of employment. We find that older workers who are more exposed to digital technologies face a higher risk of exiting employment and that this effect is significantly magnified when they are eligible for an extension of unemployment benefits until the earliest age for drawing old age pension. Furthermore, we present a simple simulation to illustrate that a policy reform that tightens the eligibility for the benefits extension increases mostly the employment of older workers that are more exposed to digital technologies. Our findings provide an important implication on policies to promote longer working lives under rapid technological change. They highlight the importance of closing institutional pathways to early retirement to encourage employers and older workers to make the necessary investment that would allow older workers to keep up with technological change and work longer.

Analysis of BPJS Employment Membership for Informal Sector Workers in Medan City (Case Study of BPJS Employment, North Medan Branch)

Every worker has the right to work safety protection for both formal and informal workers, it is conceivable if the workers do not have social security and this has an effect on weakening protection for workers and for sure poor employee performance. So the government must improve and increase social security for non-wage workers, because there are still many informal workers who do not use BPJS Employment. As we know BPJS Ketenagakerjaan is a public legal entity that has responsibility to the president and has the function to organize programs Work Accident Insurance (JKK), Death Security (JKM), Old Age Security (JHT) and Pension Security (JP) for all Indonesian workers and including immigrants who work in Indonesia for 6 months of work. What if there are informal workers who do not participate in the program, it can be said that workers in Indonesia are not yet fully prosperous. The purpose of this study is to find out why BPJS Employment participation is still low in the city of Medan and how BPJS Employment increases participation for informal sector workers . This study uses a qualitative method by presenting an overview of this problem.

Living Arrangements of Rural Elderly Women in Haryana, India

In this study we have investigating the living arrangements, decision making pattern, and position of elderly women in Haryana state. In spite of it we are also analyzing the dependence and dependents of elderly women after getting old age pension which is known as Old Age Samman Allowance (OASA) in Haryana and Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) at national level. The study was done in Haryana state of India and data was collected from 200 elderly women of age 62 years or above from four different village (50 women from each village) of Haryana. In results majority of elderly women were living with their family members and only 2 percent elderly women were living alone and dominance of male members either the spouse or son as head of the family was observed. Closest family member were their children either son or daughter. Though the elderly women were not head of the family, but majority of them had involvement in decision making related to household matters. Economic dependency of more than 35. 0 percent of the selected elderly women in spite of getting financial assistance of Rs. 2250 per month as OASA assistance raises the question of utilization of this assistance by the actual beneficiaries. Around half of the financially independent elderly women were supporting at least one person in their family. The elderly women either supported their son or grandson but not the spouse. In total old age samman allowance is very beneficial and much needed to the elderly as they become self-dependent and could live their life with full of dignity and according to their wishes.

Combining remaining life expectancy and time to death as a measure of old-age dependency related to health care needs.

Public concern about the rising number of older dependent citizens is still based mainly on standard population aging indicators. This includes the old-age dependency ratio (OADR), which divides the state pension age population by the working age population. However, the OADR counts neither the dependent elderly nor those who provide for them. This paper builds on previous research to propose several alternative indicators, including the health care (HC) need-adjusted real elderly dependency ratio and the HC need-adjusted dependent population-to-tax rate. These indicators consider improvements in old-age survival and time to death in order to better define the health care needs of the dependent old-age population and to better approximate their financial burden. We define the old-age population dependent on health care as those above the age at which remaining life expectancy is 15 years or less and are expected to die within 5 years. We use data from the US to illustrate differences between the proposed new and standard measures. Results show that, as a share of the total population, the old-age population dependent on health care has virtually not changed since 1950. Moreover, increases in GDP and state tax revenue have outstripped population aging almost continuously since 1970, irrespective of the indicator used, and they are expected to continue to do so during the coming decade. The demand for health care services is therefore not being fueled by population aging but instead by other factors such as progress in medical knowledge and technology, costs of hospitalization, and the increasing use of long-term care facilities.

Retirement as a predictor of physical functioning trajectories among older businessmen

BackgroundAssociations between retirement characteristics and consequent physical functioning (PF) are poorly understood, particularly in higher socioeconomic groups, where postponing retirement has had both positive and negative implications for PF.MethodsMultiple assessments of PF, the first of which at the mean age of 73.3 years, were performed on 1709 men who were retired business executives and managers, using the RAND-36/SF-36 instrument, between 2000 and 2010. Questionnaire data on retirement age and type of pension was gathered in 2000. Five distinct PF trajectories were created using latent growth mixture modelling. Mortality- and covariate-adjusted multinomial regression models were used to estimate multinomial Odds Ratios (mOR) on the association between retirement characteristics and PF trajectories.ResultsA one-year increase in retirement age was associated with decreased likelihood of being classified in the ‘consistently low’ (fully adjusted mOR = 0.82; 95%CI = 0.70, 0.97; P = 0.007), ‘intermediate and declining’ (mOR = 0.89; 95%CI = 0.83, 0.96; P = 0.002), and ‘high and declining’ (mOR = 0.92; 95%CI = 0.87, 0.98; P = 0.006) trajectories, relative to the ‘intact’ PF trajectory. Compared to old age pensioners, disability pensioners were more likely to be classified in the ‘consistently low’ (mOR = 23.77; 95% CI 2.13, 265.04; P = 0.010), ‘intermediate and declining’ (mOR = 8.24; 95%CI = 2.58, 26.35; P < 0.001), and ‘high and declining’ (mOR = 2.71; 95%CI = 1.17, 6.28; P = 0.020) PF trajectories, relative to the ‘intact’ PF trajectory.ConclusionsAmong executives and managers, older age at retirement was associated with better trajectories of PF in old age. Compared to old age pensioners, those transitioning into disability and early old age pensions were at risk of having consistently lower PF in old age.