Increase In Pension Age Research Articles

Health and labor market effects of an unanticipated rise in retirement age. Evidence from the 2012 Italian pension reform.

As retirement ages increase around the world, not all workers may be equally able to extend their working lives. In this article, we examine the health and labor market effects of an Italian pension reform that suddenly increased the normal retirement age up to 7years for women and up to 2years for men. To do this, we use linked labor and healthcare administrative data, jointly with survey data and difference-in-difference methods. Our results show that the reform was effective in postponing retirement among both genders, as pension claiming dropped substantially for older workers. However, there were also side effects as the reform significantly pushed previously employed men and women into unemployment and disability pension. Among women only, the reform also increased sick leave and hospitalizations related to mental health and injuries. These effects were driven by women with previously low health status, suggesting that undifferentiated and abrupt increases in pension age might harm more vulnerable workers. Coherently with the milder tightening of retirement age experienced by men, labor market responses were smaller in size, and they did not suffer any significant health effects.

Future trends of life expectancy by education in the Netherlands

BackgroundNational projections of life expectancy are made periodically by statistical offices or actuarial societies in Europe and are widely used, amongst others for reforms of pension systems. However, these projections may not provide a good estimate of the future trends in life expectancy of different social-economic groups. The objective of this study is to provide insight in future trends in life expectancies for low, mid and high educated men and women living in the Netherlands.MethodsWe used a three-layer Li and Lee model with data from neighboring countries to complement Dutch time series.ResultsOur results point at further increases of life expectancy between age 35 and 85 and of remaining life expectancy at age 35 and age 65, for all education groups in the Netherlands. The projected increase in life expectancy is slightly larger among the high educated than among the low educated. Life expectancy of low educated women, particularly between age 35 and 85, shows the smallest projected increase. Our results also suggest that inequalities in life expectancies between high and low educated will be similar or slightly increasing between 2018 and 2048. We see no indication of a decline in inequality between the life expectancy of the low and high educated.ConclusionsThe educational inequalities in life expectancy are expected to persist or slightly increase for both men and women. The persistence and possible increase of inequalities in life expectancy between the educational groups may cause equity concerns of increases in pension age that are equal among all socio-economic groups.

Government strategies for supporting the adult worker model in European countries: mixed implications for defamilisation

PurposeThis article explores the link between defamilisation studies and studies of the adult worker model and discusses the mixed implications that government strategies for supporting the adult worker model have for defamilisation. The adult worker model emphasises that all adult men and women ought to engage in formal employment; defamilisation studies stress the importance of enhancing women's chances of choosing (not) to perform important family roles such as the receiver of financial support and the care provider.Design/methodology/approachTwo new strategies (“condition building” and “rewarding/penalising”) for promoting the adult worker model are identified based on literature review; their empirical significance is explored through an examination of comparative data concerning early childhood education and care policies (ECEC) and reforms in pension age in 14 countries.FindingsThe evidence shows that promoting the adult worker model does not necessarily benefit all women. While the 14 countries provide ECEC to varying extents, the increase in pension age in most countries shows that governments adopt a “rewarding/penalising” strategy for promoting the adult worker model by allocating major welfare based on people's labour force participation. These pension reforms may generate a negative impact on women's chances of attaining financial autonomy.Originality/valueThis study presents two new strategies for promoting the adult worker model and shows the empirical significance of these strategies based on comparative data. It also highlights the importance of searching for alternative concepts, namely economic defamilisation, for guiding pension reforms.

16.B. Workshop: Retirement reforms and health in an ageing society: outputs of a multi-partner collaboration

Abstract Although at different paces, life expectancy is increasing in Europe and globally, this impacting on public spending, welfare and pension systems. In an ageing society, to sustain economic growth, reduce public spending and foster the sustainability of pension systems, many countries have recognized the need to increase people employment participation at higher working age. In addition, many nations are implementing large budget reductions to social welfare systems. How will these reforms impact on healthy ageing? It is of concern that the increase in pension age may force subjects with health problems to continue working in jobs characterized by adverse working conditions, which may further deteriorate their health. The workshop will bring together expertise in public health, epidemiology, statistics, policies analysis, economics and quantitative social sciences with topic knowledge on ageing. In particular, we will present the design and outputs of the multi-partner project “Pension reforms and spatial-temporal patterns in healthy ageing: quasi-natural experimental analysis of linked health and pension data”. Aim of the project is to evaluate the impact of labor and retirement-associated determinants on different dimensions of health and wellbeing of elder populations, so as to provide useful evidence to plan, implement and evaluate targeted prevention programmes and welfare policies. The workshop will be structured as follows: we will first set the scene by introducing a conceptual framework on the association between social determinants, working conditions, transition to retirement and health, both in its physical and mental components. The framework has been developed in the context of the project and fueled by retrieving, pooling and critically appraising the most updated evidence from the biomedical and economic literature. We will then provide two original contributions. In the first we will present original Italian national representative data exploring whether retirement and retirement age are associated with changes in health status, sickness absence, caregiving, social engagement, disease incidence or mortality. In the second contribution we will open up to the European level presenting analysis of secondary household panel surveys across 18 EU countries using Surveys on Health, Retirement and Ageing in Europe (SHARE), as well as specific quasi-natural experiment studies of reforms extending pension ages in different countries. At the end, we hope to engage in a fruitful discussion with the audience on the data presented, and to explore on how they can inform critical policy debates about health and economic consequences of pension reforms and potential inequalities at the European and global level. Key messages In an ageing society it is crucial to assess how pension reforms might impact on health. Quasi-natural experimental analysis of linked health and pension data might inform policy.

WASPI's Is (Mostly) a Campaign for Inequality

AbstractWomen Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) has mounted a vociferous campaign for full compensation to be given to ‘1950s women’ who, it argues, have suffered severe financial hardship as a result of the rise in their state pension age from age 60. That campaign has gained significant political traction, with much sympathy expressed for the plight of those affected and acceptance (most notably by the Scottish National Party and the Labour Party) that some form of compensation is urgently needed. But WASPI fails to acknowledge the rise in the state pension age's roots in the fight for women's equality, disregards the fact that the problems experienced by this cohort as they near retirement are faced by both women and men and glosses over the fact that the increase in pension age above 65 applies to both genders equally. Its campaign obscures deeper and more important issues in old‐age income replacement.

Changes in pension take-up and retirement in the context of increasing the pension age: the case of Estonia in the 2000s

This article looks into the effects of increasing the statutory pension age on pension take-up and on employment before and after pension take-up in Estonia in 2002–11. We use individual-level administrative data from the pension register of the Estonian National Social Insurance Board and a set of analytical indicators to capture the pension take-up and employment exit processes. The results reveal a relatively successful adjustment to the increase in pension age. The age gap between take-up of normal and early retirement (old-age) pension has not widened and the increase in the statutory pension age has moved exit from employment proportionally towards a later age. At the same time, a marked increase in the take-up of incapacity pensions, accelerated during the economic recession, has significantly reduced the overall effect of pension age reform.

Quantifying policy tradeoffs to support aging populations

BACKGROUND: Coping with aging populations is a challenge for most developed countries. Supporting non-working adults can create an unsustainable burden on those working. One way of dealing with this is to raise the normal pension age, but this has proven unpopular. A complementary approach is to raise the average labor force participation rate. These policies are generally more politically palatable because they often remove barriers, allowing people who would like to work to do so. OBJECTIVE: To conceptualize and estimate the trade-off between pension age and labor force participation rate policies. METHOD: We project the populations of European countries and apply different levels of labor force participation rates to the projected populations. We introduce the notion of a relative burden, which is the ratio of the fraction of the income of people in the labor market in 2050 that they transfer to adults out of the labor market to the same fraction in 2009. We use this indicator to investigate the trade-offs between changes in normal pension ages and the general level of labor force participation rates. RESULTS: We show that, in most European countries, a difference in policies that results in an increase in average labor force participation rates by an additional one to two percentage points by 2050 can substitute for a one-year increase in the normal pension age. This is important because, in many European countries, without additional increases in labor force participation rates, normal pension ages would have to be raised well above 68 by 2050 to keep the burden on those working manageable. CONCLUSION: Because of anticipated increases in life expectancy and health at older ages as well as because of financial necessity, some mix of increases in pension ages and in labor force participation rates will be needed. Pension age changes by themselves will not be sufficient.

Breathlessness and lung function in older working adults is associated with significant work disability

ObjectivesBreathlessness and airflow limitation increase with age and are likely to result in work disability.MethodsA general population survey of adults in their sixth decade was carried out to examine the...