Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-jtdwj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T01:45:59.065Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

In line or at odds with active ageing policies? Exploring patterns of retirement preferences in Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2014

DIRK HOFÄCKER
DIRK HOFÄCKER*
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Sciences, Institute for Social Work and Social Policy, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
*
Address for correspondence: Dirk Hofäcker, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Institute for Social Work and Politics, University of Duisburg-Essen, WST-C.14.11, Berliner Platz 6–8, 45127 Essen, Germany. E-mail: dirk.hofaecker@uni-due.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Faced with demographic ageing, European policy makers since the mid-1990s have taken a turn from fostering early retirement to promoting longer working life by reducing early exit incentives and facilitating work continuation. However, it remains open whether these reforms are yet reflected in the retirement plans and preferences of future pensioners’ cohorts. Using most recent data on desired retirement ages from the fifth wave of the European Social Survey (2010/11 wave), this paper empirically investigates how far current policy reforms are in line with the retirement age preferences of older workers aged 45 and over. Results show that older workers approaching retirement ages still intend to retire before the politically envisioned age of 65, and in many cases also before nationally defined standard retirement ages. Despite visible progress in implementing active ageing measures, the challenge of motivating older workers to continue working until or even beyond retirement ages thus remains. At the same time, there are regime-specific problem groups that face difficulties in adjusting to the active ageing paradigm of longer working life. Especially in countries with little employment support, those with unstable work careers, employment interruptions and few financial resources are at a high risk of being crowded out from late career employment and thus from the possibility of ensuring a decent standard of living in old age.

Keywords

RetirementpreferencesEuropeInstitutionsPush factorspull factorsstay factors

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 7 , August 2015 , pp. 1529 - 1556
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Betliy, O. and Feiler, L. 2011. Flexicurity and the Role of Lifelong Learning in Ukraine. European Training Foundation, Turin, Italy.Google Scholar
Blanchet, D. and Debrand, T. 2009. The sooner, the better? Analyzing preferences for early retirement in European countries. IRDES Working Paper DT13, IRDES Institute for Research and Information in Health Economics, Paris.Google Scholar
Blöndal, S. and Scarpetta, S. 1999. The retirement decision in OECD countries. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Economics Department Working Paper 202, OECD, Paris.Google Scholar
Blossfeld, H.-P., Buchholz, S. and Hofäcker, D. (eds) 2006. Globalization, Uncertainty and Late Careers in Society. Routledge, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blossfeld, H.-P., Buchholz, S. and Kurz, K. (eds) 2011. Aging Populations, Globalization and the Labor Market: Comparing Late Working Life and Retirement in Modern Societies. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulgarian National State Statistics Institute 2012. Unemployed and unemployment rates - national level. Available online at http://www.nsi.bg/en/content/6503/unemployed-and-unemployment-rates-national-level-statistical-regions-districts [Accessed 1 August 2012].Google Scholar
Büsch, V., Dittrich, D. and Lieberum, U. 2010. Determinants of work motivation and work ability among older workers and implications for the desire for continued employment. Comparative Population Studies, 35, 4, 931–58.Google Scholar
Cazes, S. 2002. Do labour market institutions matter in transition economies? An analysis of labour market flexibility in the late nineties. ILO Discussion Paper 140/2002, International Institute for Labour Studies, Geneva.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croatian Bureau of Statistics 2003. Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia 2003. Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb.Google Scholar
Croatian Bureau of Statistics 2005. Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia 2005. Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb.Google Scholar
Croatian Bureau of Statistics 2007. Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia 2007. Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb.Google Scholar
Croatian Bureau of Statistics 2010. Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia 2010. Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb.Google Scholar
Drobnič, S. and Schneider, T. 2000. Der Übergang erwerbstätiger Ehepartner in den Ruhestand aus der Lebenslaufperspektive. Zeitschrift für Soziologie der Erziehung und Sozialisation Beiheft, 3, 205–20.Google Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B. 2006. Reforming Early Retirement in Europe, Japan and the USA. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B. and Hofäcker, D. 2013. Reversing Early Retirement in Advanced Welfare Economies: A Paradigm Shift to Overcome Push and Pull Factors. Comparative Population Studies (CPoS), 38, 4, 807–40.Google Scholar
Esser, I. 2006. Continued work or retirement? Preferred exit-age in Western European countries. In Han, E. (ed.), Ageing and the Labour Market: Issues and Solutions. Or Are There? Volume 12, FISS Series of International Studies on Social Security, Intersentia, Mortsel, Belgium, 43–80.Google Scholar
European Commission 2011. Age and Employment. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.Google Scholar
European Employment Observatory 2012. Employment Policies to Promote Active Ageing. Available online at http://www.eu-employment-observatory.net/explore.aspx?document=1247php [Accessed 1 August 2012].Google Scholar
Eurostat 2012. NEW CRONOS Database. Available online at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/search_databasephp [Accessed 1 August 2012].Google Scholar
Gesthuizen, M. and Wolbers, M. H. J. 2011. Late career instability and the transition into retirement of older workers in the Netherlands. In Blossfeld, H.-P., Buchholz, S. and Kurz, K. (eds), Aging Populations, Globalization and the Labor Market: Comparing Late Working Life and Retirement in Modern Societies. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 65–89.Google Scholar
Gimpelson, V. and Kapeliushnikov, R. 2011. Labor market adjustment: is Russia different? IZA Discussion Paper 5588, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruber, J. and Wise, D. 1999. Social Security and Retirement Around the World. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Guillemard, A.-M. 1991. Die Destandardisierung des Lebenslaufs in den europäischen Wohlfahrtsstaaten. Zeitschriftfür Sozialreform, 37, 10, 620–39.Google Scholar
Heyns, B. 2005. Emerging inequalities in Central and Eastern Europe. Annual Review of Sociology, 31, 163–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochman, O. and Lewin-Epstein, N. 2013. Determinants of early retirement preferences in Europe: the role of grandparenthood. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 54, 1, 29–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofäcker, D. 2012. Globalization and the labour market situation of older workers: exploring trends, challenges and strategies for adaptation. Discussion paper for the Thematic Review Seminar on ‘Employment Policies to Promote Active Ageing’, 11 June, Brussels.Google Scholar
Hofäcker, D., Frommert, D. and Heien, T. 2010. Perceptions of pension systems and expectations of own retirement – a pan-European comparison. Paper presented at the 2010 Social Policy Association Conference, 5–7 July, Lincoln, UK.Google Scholar
Hutchens, R. 1999. Social security benefits and employer behaviour: evaluating social security early retirement benefits as a form of unemployment insurance. International Economic Review, 40, 3, 659–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ignjatovic, M. 2012. EEO Review ‘Employment Policies to Promote Active Ageing’: Slovenia. Available online at http://www.eu-employment-observatory.net/explore.aspx?document=1247 [Accessed 1 August 2012].Google Scholar
Jepsen, M., Foden, D. and Hutsebaut, M. (eds) 2002. Active Strategies for Older Workers. European Trade Union Institute, Brussels.Google Scholar
Kohli, M., et al. (eds) 1991. Time for retirement: Comparative studies of early exit from the labour force. University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Komp, K., Van Tilburg, T. and Broese van Groenau, M. 2011. Paid work between age 60 and 70 years in Europe: a matter of socio-economic status. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 5, 1, 45–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuddo, A. 2009. Employment services and active labor market programs in Eastern European and Central Asian Countries. World Bank Discussion Paper 0918, World Bank, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Litwin, H., Achdut, L. and Youssim, I. 2009. Who supports delayed retirement? A study of older workers in Israel. Journal of European Social Policy, 19, 3, 245–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Micheel, F., Roloff, J. and Wickenheiser, I. 2010 The impact of socioeconomic characteristics on older employees’ willingness to continue working in retirement age. Comparative Population Studies, 35, 4, 869–902.Google Scholar
MISSOC [EU's Mutual Information System on Social Protection] 2012. Missoc Comparative Tables Database. URL: http://www.missoc.org/MISSOC/INFORMATIONBASE/COMPARATIVETABLES/MISSOCDATABASE/comparativeTableSearch.jsp [Accessed 15 July 2012].Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2011. OECD Labour Force Statistics. Available online at http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx [Accessed 15 July 2012].Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2013. Average Effective Age of Retirement Versus the Official Age, 2006–2011a. Available online at www.oecd.org/els/emp/Summary_2011+values3dec2012.xls [Accessed 11 September 2013].Google Scholar
O'Shea, R., Bryson, C. and Jowell, R. n.d. Comparative Attitudinal Research in Europe. Available online at http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=1&Itemid=80.php [Accessed 1 August 2012].Google Scholar
Raymo, J. M., Warren, J. R., Sweeney, M. M., Hauser, R. M. and Ho, J. H. 2011. Precarious employment, bad jobs, labor unions, and early retirement. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 66, 2, 249–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schröder, H., Muller-Camen, M., and Flynn, M. 2012. British and German school teachers and their conceptualization of their work–retirement transition. Paper presented at the 2012 Academy of Management Review Conference, 3–7 August, Boston, Massachusetts.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
State Statistics Service of Ukraine 2012. Basic indicators on labour market (annual data). Available online at http://www.ukrstat.gov.ua/operativ/operativ2007/rp/ean/ean_e/osp_rik07_e.htm [Accessed 1 August 2012].Google Scholar
Taylor, M. A. and Shore, L. M. 1995. Predictors of planned retirement age: an application of Beehr's model. Psychology and Aging, 10, 1, 76–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veits, M., Khokhlova, A. and Kozlovskiy, V. 2011. Participation of Adults in Lifelong Learning in Russia: Possibilities and Barriers. LLL2010 SP2 Country Report, LLL2010 Working paper No. 73, Tallinn: Tallin University.Google Scholar
Wang, M. and Shultz, K. S. 2010. Employee retirement: a review and recommendations for future investigation. Journal of Management, 36, 1, 172–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar