Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T01:58:54.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Increases in wellbeing in the transition to retirement for the unemployed: catching up with formerly employed persons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2017

VALENTINA PONOMARENKO Open the ORCID record for VALENTINA PONOMARENKO [Opens in a new window] ,
ANJA K. LEIST  and
LOUIS CHAUVEL
VALENTINA PONOMARENKO*
Affiliation:
GESIS-Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences, Mannheim, Germany.
ANJA K. LEIST
Affiliation:
Institute for Research on Socio-Economic Inequality, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
LOUIS CHAUVEL
Affiliation:
Institute for Research on Socio-Economic Inequality, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
*
Address for correspondence: Valentina Ponomarenko, GESIS-Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences, B2, 4 Mannheim 68159, Germany E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which wellbeing levels change in the transition to retirement depending on transitioning from being employed, unemployed or economically inactive. Whereas transitioning from employment to unemployment has been found to cause a decrease in subjective wellbeing with more time spent in unemployment, it is not clear how transitioning from unemployment to retirement affects wellbeing levels. We use the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe to monitor the life satisfaction of respondents who retire in between two waves. We portray wellbeing scores before and after retirement and then identify the change in life satisfaction during the retirement transition using a First Difference model. Results indicate that being unemployed before retirement is associated with an increase in life satisfaction, but presents mainly a catching-up effect compared to employed persons transitioning to retirement. These results are still significant if we control for selection into unemployment and country differences. Retirement from labour market inactivity does not lead to significant changes in wellbeing. As the wellbeing of unemployed persons recovers after transitioning to retirement, especially the currently unemployed population should be supported to prevent detrimental consequences of economically unfavourable conditions and lower wellbeing.

Keywords

retirementunemploymenttransitionlabour market inactivitysubjective wellbeing
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , February 2019 , pp. 254 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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.)

References

Abolhassani, M. and Alessie, R. 2013. Subjective well-being around retirement. De Economist, 161, 3, 349–66.Google Scholar
Alavinia, S. M. and Burdorf, A. 2008. Unemployment and retirement and ill-health: a cross-sectional analysis across European countries. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 82, 1, 39–45.Google Scholar
Antonova, L., Belloni, M., Meschi, E. and Pasini, G. 2015. The effect on mental health of retiring during the economic crisis. Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Department of Economics, Working Paper No. 10/WP/2015, Venice.Google Scholar
Arulampalam, W. 2001. Is unemployment really scarring? Effects of unemployment experience on wages. The Economic Journal, 111, 475, 585–605.Google Scholar
Arulampalam, W., Gregg, P. and Gregory, M. 2001. Unemployment scarring. The Economic Journal, 475, 111, 577–84.Google Scholar
Atchley, R. C. 1989. A continuity theory of normal aging. The Gerontologist, 29, 2, 183–90.Google Scholar
Bender, K. A. 2012. An analysis of well-being in retirement: the role of pensions, health, and ‘voluntariness’ of retirement. Journal of Socio-Economics, 41, 4, 424–33.Google Scholar
Berchick, E. R., Gallo, W. T., Maralani, V. and Kasl, S. V. 2012. Inequality and the association between involuntary job loss and depressive symptoms. Social Science & Medicine, 75, 10, 1891–4.Google Scholar
Blau, G., Petrucci, T. and McClendon, J. 2013. Correlates of life satisfaction and unemployment stigma and the impact of length of unemployment on a unique unemployed sample. Career Development International, 18, 3, 257–80.Google Scholar
Bonsang, E. and Klein, T. J. 2012. Retirement and subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 83, 3, 311–29.Google Scholar
Börsch-Supan, A. and Jürges, H. 2005. The Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe – Methodology. Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging, Mannheim, Germany.Google Scholar
Brandt, M. and Hank, K. 2014. Scars that will not disappear: long-term associations between early and later life unemployment under different welfare regimes. Journal of Social Policy, 43, 4, 727–43.Google Scholar
Chauvel, L. 2010. The long-term destabilization of youth, scarring effects, and the future of the welfare regime in Post-Trente Glorieuses France. French Politics, Culture & Society, 28, 3, 74–96.Google Scholar
Chauvel, L. and Schröder, M. 2014. Generational inequalities and welfare regimes. Social Forces, 92, 4, 1259–83.Google Scholar
Clark, A. E., Diener, E., Georgellis, Y. and Lucas, R. E. 2008. Lags and leads in life satisfaction: a test of the baseline hypothesis. The Economic Journal, 118, 529, 222–43.Google Scholar
Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y. and Sanfey, P. 2001. Scarring: the psychological impact of past unemployment. Economica, 68, 270, 221–41.Google Scholar
Clark, A. E. and Oswald, A. J. 1994. Unhappiness and unemployment. The Economic Journal, 104, 424, 648–59.Google Scholar
Daly, M. and Delaney, L. 2013. The scarring effect of unemployment throughout adulthood on psychological distress at age 50: estimates controlling for early adulthood distress and childhood psychological factors. Social Science & Medicine, 80, 19–23.Google Scholar
Dannefer, D. 1987. Aging as intracohort differentiation: accentuation, the Matthew Effect, and the life course. Sociological Forum, 2, 2, 211–36.Google Scholar
DiPrete, T. A. and Eirich, G. M. 2006. Cumulative advantage as a mechanism for inequality: a review of theoretical and empirical developments. Annual Review of Sociology, 32, 271–97.Google Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B. 2006. Reforming Early Retirement in Europe, Japan and the USA. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Elder, G. H. 1998. The life course as developmental theory. Child Development, 96, 1, 1–12.Google Scholar
Elder, G. H., Kirkpatrick Johnson, M. and Crosnoe, R. 2003. The emergence and development of the life course theory. In Mortimer, J. T. and Shanahan, M. J. (eds), Handbook of the Life Course. Kluwer Acadamic/Plenum Publishers, New York, 3–19.Google Scholar
Ellwood, D. 1982. Teenage unemployment: permanent scars or temporary blemishes? In Freeman, R. B. and Wise, D. A. (eds), The Youth Labor Market Problem. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 349–90.Google Scholar
Erlinghagen, M. and Knuth, M. 2010. Unemployment as an institutional construct? Structural differences in non-employment between selected European countries and the United States. Journal of Social Policy, 39, 1, 71–94.Google Scholar
Eurostat 1999. Labour Force Survey: Methods and Definitions, 1998 Edition. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.Google Scholar
Fasang, A. E. 2012. Retirement patterns and income inequality. Social Forces, 90, 3, 685–711.Google Scholar
Fonseca, R., Kapteyn, A., Lee, J., Zamarro, G. and Feeney, K. 2014. A longitudinal study of well-being of older Europeans: does retirement matter? Journal of Population Ageing, 7, 1, 21–41.Google Scholar
Gallo, W. T., Bradley, E. H., Dubin, J. A., Jones, R. N., Falba, T. A., Teng, H.-M. and Kasl, S. V. 2006. The persistence of depressive symptoms in older workers who experience involuntary job loss: results from the Health and Retirement Survey. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 61B, 4, 221–8.Google Scholar
Gangl, M. 2006. Scar effects of unemployment: an assessment of institutional complementarities. American Sociological Review, 71, 6, 986–1013.Google Scholar
George, L. K. 1993. Sociological perspectives on life transitions. Annual Review of Sociology, 19, 353–73.Google Scholar
Hagler, M., Hamby, S., Grych, J. and Banyard, V. 2015. Working for well-being: uncovering the protective benefits of work through mixed methods analysis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17, 4, 1493–510.Google Scholar
Hetschko, C., Knabe, A. and Schöb, R. 2014. Changing identity: retiring from unemployment. The Economic Journal, 124, 575, 149–66.Google Scholar
Jefferis, B. J., Nazareth, I., Marston, L., Moreno-Kustner, B., Ángel Bellón, J., Svab, I., Rotar, D., Geerlings, M. I., Xavier, M., Goncalves-Pereira, M., Vicente, B., Saldivia, S., Aluoja, A., Kalda, R. and King, M. 2011. Associations between unemployment and major depressive disorder: evidence from an international, prospective study (the predict cohort). Social Science & Medicine, 73, 11, 1627–34.Google Scholar
Kim, J. E. and Moen, P. 2002. Retirement transitions, gender, and psychological well-being: a life-course, ecological model. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 57B, 3, 212–22.Google Scholar
Kok, R., Avendano, M., Bado d'Uva, T. and Mackenbach, J. 2012. Can reporting heterogeneity explain differences in depressive symptoms across Europe? Social Indicators Research, 105, 2, 191–210.Google Scholar
Kyyrä, T. 2015. Early retirement policy in the presence of competing exit pathways: evidence from pension reforms in Finland. Economica, 82, 325, 46–78.Google Scholar
Latif, E. 2011. The impact of retirement on psychological well-being in Canada. Journal of Socio-Economics, 40, 4, 373–80.Google Scholar
Mandemakers, J. J. and Monden, C. W. S. 2013. Does the effect of job loss on psychological distress differ by educational level? Work, Employment and Society, 27, 1, 73–93.Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. 1988. The Matthew Effect in science, II: cumulative advantage and the symbolism of intellectual property. Isis, 79, 4, 606–23.Google Scholar
Mikucka, M. 2011. Homemaking and women's well-being in Europe. Effect of divorce risk, selection and dominating gender-role attitudes. Working Paper, CEPS/Instead Working Papers no 2011-14.Google Scholar
Moen, P., Kim, J. E. and Hofmeister, H. 2001. Couples’ work/retirement transitions, gender and marital quality. Social Psychology Quaterly, 64, 1, 55–71.Google Scholar
Möhring, K. 2015. Employment histories and pension incomes in Europe. European Societies, 17, 1, 3–26.Google Scholar
Mokyr Horner, E. 2014. Subjective well-being and retirement: analysis and policy recommendations. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15, 1, 125–44.Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2008. Are all jobs good for your health? The impact of work status and working conditions on mental health. In Employment Outlook. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris, 203–62.Google Scholar
Pinquart, M. and Schindler, I. 2007. Changes of life satisfaction in the transition to retirement: a latent-class approach. Psychology and Aging, 22, 3, 442–55.Google Scholar
Riumallo-Herl, C., Basu, S., Stuckler, D., Courtin, E. and Avendano, M. 2014. Job loss, wealth and depression during the Great Recession in the USA and Europe. International Journal of Epidemiology, 43, 5, 1508–17.Google Scholar
Schröder, M. 2013. Jobless now, sick later? Investigating the long-term consequences of involuntary job loss on health. Advances in Life Course Research, 18, 1, 5–15.Google Scholar
Stam, K., Sieben, I., Verbakel, E. and de Graaf, P. M. 2015. Employment status and subjective well-being: the role of the social norm to work. Work, Employment and Society, 30, 2, 309–33.Google Scholar
Strandh, M., Winefield, A., Nilsson, K. and Hammarström, A. 2014. Unemployment and mental health scarring during the life course. European Journal of Public Health, 24, 3, 440–5.Google Scholar
Tatsiramos, K. 2010. Job displacement and the transitions to re-employment and early retirement for non-employed older workers. European Economic Review, 54, 4, 517–35.Google Scholar
Treas, J., van der Lippe, T. and ChloeTai, T.-O. 2011. The happy homemaker? Married women's well-being in cross-national perspective. Social Forces, 90, 1, 111–32.Google Scholar
van der Noordt, M., IJzelenberg, H., Droomers, M. and Proper, K. I. 2014. Health effects of employment: a systematic review of prospective studies. Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 71, 10, 730–6.Google Scholar
Wang, M. 2007. Profiling retirees in the retirement transition and adjustment process: examining the longitudinal change patterns of retirees’ psychological well-being. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 2, 455–74.Google Scholar
Winkelmann, L. and Winkelmann, R. 1998. Why are the unemployed so unhappy? Evidence from panel data. Economica, 65, 257, 1–15.Google Scholar
Zenger, M., Brähler, E., Berth, H. and Stöbel-Richter, Y. 2011. Unemployment during working life and mental health of retirees: results of a representative survey. Aging & Mental Health, 15, 2, 178–85.Google Scholar