Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T04:11:55.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

You can't always get what you want: actual and preferred ages of retirement in Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2015

NADIA STEIBER  and
MARTIN KOHLI
NADIA STEIBER*
Affiliation:
Department of Economic Sociology, University of Vienna, Austria. Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (IIASA, VID/ÖAW, WU), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria.
MARTIN KOHLI
Affiliation:
Department of Social and Political Sciences, European University Institute, San Domenico di Fiesole, Italy. Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences, Germany.
*
Address for correspondence: Nadia Steiber, Department of Economic Sociology, University of Vienna, Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1, 1090 Vienna, Austria E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using data from the European Social Survey fielded in 2010/11, this study presents new evidence on retirement preferences in Europe. It investigates retirees' preferred and actual ages of retirement, focusing on the retirement window 1995–2011. Moreover, it reports on the prevalence of mismatch in the form of involuntary retirement (retiring earlier than preferred) and involuntary work (retiring later than preferred). The study identifies substantial shares of retirees who are affected by a mismatch between their preferred and actual ages of retirement. In the majority of the countries analysed, at least 30 per cent of retirees would have preferred to continue working past the age at which they retired, while in a number of countries sizeable shares of retirees report involuntary work. The risk factors for involuntary retirement include the experience of late-career job loss, unemployment, job exits for health reasons and, in the case of women, working in higher-status occupations. The risk factors for involuntary work include fatherhood and, in the case of women, part-time work. As a result of rising actual ages of retirement, the risk of involuntary retirement has decreased for more recent retirement cohorts, while due to pension reforms that have tightened eligibility rules for early retirement, men's risk of involuntary work has increased. However, involuntary retirement is still more prevalent than involuntary work.

Keywords

retirementpreferencesinvoluntaryretirement decisionsEurope
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , February 2017 , pp. 352 - 385
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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

Adler, G. and Hilber, D. 2009. Industry hiring patterns of older workers. Research on Aging, 31, 1, 69–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arulampalam, W., Booth, A. L. and Taylor, M. P. 2000. Unemployment persistence. Oxford Economic Papers, 52, 1, 24–50.Google Scholar
Arza, C. and Kohli, M. 2008. Introduction: the political economy of pension reform. In Arza, C. and Kohli, M. (eds), Pension Reform in Europe: Politics, Policies and Outcomes. Routledge, London, 1–21.Google Scholar
Bardi, A. and Schwartz, S. H. 2003. Values and behavior: strength and structure of relations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 10, 1207–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beehr, T. A. and Nielson, N. L. 1995. Descriptions of job characteristics and retirement activities during the transition to retirement. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16, S1, 681–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blekesaune, M. and Solem, P. E. 2005. Working conditions and early retirement: a prospective study of retirement behavior. Research on Aging, 27, 1, 3–30.Google Scholar
Blossfeld, H.-P., Buchholz, S. and Hofäcker, D. 2006. Globalization, Uncertainty and Late Careers in Society. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Calvo, E. 2006. Does Working Longer Make People Healthier and Happier? MPRA Paper 5606, University Library of Munich, Germany. Available online at http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/5606/ [Accessed 1 May 2014].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvo, E., Haverstick, K. and Sass, S. A. 2009. Gradual retirement, sense of control, and retirees’ happiness. Research on Aging, 31, 1, 112–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvo, E. and Sarkisian, N. 2011. Retirement and well-being: examining the characteristics of life course transitions. Working Paper 2, Public Policy Institute at Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile.Google Scholar
Damman, M., Henkens, K. and Kalmijn, M. 2011. The impact of midlife educational, work, health, and family experiences on men's early retirement. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 66B, 5, 617–27.Google Scholar
Dawson, J. D., Henley, A. and Latreille, P. L. 2009. Why do individuals choose self-employment? IZA Discussion Paper 3974, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Vaus, D., Wells, Y., Kendig, H. and Quine, S. 2007. Does gradual retirement have better outcomes than abrupt retirement? Results from an Australian panel study. Ageing & Society, 27, 5, 667–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dingemans, E. and Henkens, K. 2014. Involuntary retirement, bridge employment, and satisfaction with life: a longitudinal investigation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35, 4, 575–91.Google Scholar
Dorn, D. and Sousa-Poza, A. 2010 ‘Voluntary’ and ‘involuntary’ early retirement: an international analysis. Applied Economics, 42, 4, 427–38.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, 38, 4, 807–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eliason, M. and Storrie, D. 2006. Lasting or latent scars? Swedish evidence on the long-term effects of job displacement. Journal of Labor Economics, 24, 4, 831–56.Google Scholar
Erikson, R., Goldthorpe, J. H. and Portocarero, L. 1979. Intergenerational class mobility in three Western European societies: England, France and Sweden. British Journal of Sociology, 30, 4, 415–41.Google Scholar
Esser, I. 2005. Continued work or retirement? Preferred exit-age in Western European countries. Working Series Report 2005:9, Institute for Future Studies, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Gallie, D. and Zhou, Y. 2013. Job control, work intensity, and work stress. In Gallie, D. (ed.), Crisis, Quality of Work, and Social Integration. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 115–41.Google Scholar
Gallo, W. T., Bradley, E. H., Siegel, M. and Kasl, S. V. 2000. Health effects of involuntary job loss among older workers: findings from the Health and Retirement Survey. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 55B, 3, S131–40.Google Scholar
Gruber, J. and Wise, D. A. 1999. Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Gruber, J. and Wise, D. A. 2004. Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Micro-estimation. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Hackman, J. R. and Oldham, G. R. 1976. Motivation through the design of work: test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16, 2, 250–79.Google Scholar
Hakim, C. 1991. Grateful slaves and self-made women: fact and fantasy in women's work orientations. European Sociological Review, 7, 2, 101–21.Google Scholar
Hayward, M. D. 1986. The influence of occupational characteristics on men's early retirement. Social Forces, 64, 4, 1032–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hershey, D. A. and Henkens, K. 2014. Impact of different types of retirement transitions on perceived satisfaction with life. The Gerontologist, 54, 2, 232–44.Google Scholar
Hofäcker, D. 2015. In line or at odds with active ageing policies? Exploring patterns of retirement preferences in Europe. Ageing & Society, 35, 7, 1529–56.Google Scholar
Hyggen, C. 2008. Change and stability in work commitment in Norway: from adolescence to adulthood. Journal of Social Policy, 37, 1, 103–23.Google Scholar
Jowell, R., Roberts, C., Fitzgerald, R. and Eva, G. 2007. Measuring Attitudes Cross-nationally: Lessons from the European Social Survey. Sage, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohli, M. 1987. Retirement and the moral economy: an historical interpretation of the German case. Journal of Aging Studies, 1, 2, 125–44.Google Scholar
Kohli, M. and Arza, C. 2011. The political economy of pension reform in Europe. In Binstock, R. H. and Goerge, L. K. (eds), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences. Seventh edition, Academic Press, San Diego, California, 251–64.Google Scholar
Kohli, M., Rein, M., Guillemard, A.-M. and Van Gunsteren, H. 1991. Time for Retirement: Comparative Studies on Early Exit from the Labor Force. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lawler, E. E. 1987. The design of effective reward systems. In Lorsch, W. J. (ed.), Handbook of Organizational Behavior. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 255–71.Google Scholar
Lumsdaine, R. L. and Mitchell, O. S. 1999. New developments in the economic analysis of retirement. In Ashenfelter, O. C. and Card, D. (eds), Handbook of Labor Economics. Volume 3, Part C, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 3261–307.Google Scholar
Moen, P. and Roehling, P. V. 2005. The Career Mystique: Cracks in the American Dream. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland.Google Scholar
Muñoz de Bustillo, R., Fernández-Macías, E., Antón, J.-I. and Esteve, F. 2011. Measuring More Than Money. The Social Economics of Job Quality. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK.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: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 66B, 2, 249–59.Google Scholar
Schellenberg, G. and Silver, C. 2004. You can't always get what you want: retirement preferences and experiences. Canadian Social Trends, 75, Winter, 2–7.Google Scholar
Shultz, K. S., Morton, K. R. and Weckerle, J. R. 1998. The influence of push and pull factors on voluntary and involuntary early retirees’ retirement decision and adjustment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 53, 1, 45–57.Google Scholar
Smith, S. 2006. The retirement–consumption puzzle and involuntary early retirement: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey. The Economic Journal, 116, 510, C130–48.Google Scholar
Steiber, N. 2008. ‘How many hours would you want to work a week?’: job quality and the omitted variables bias in labour supply models. SOEP Papers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research, Paper 121, DIW Berlin, Berlin.Google Scholar
Steiber, N. 2013. Economic downturn and work motivation. In Gallie, D. (ed.), Crisis, Quality of Work, and Social Integration. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 195–228.Google Scholar
Steiber, N. 2014. Retirement effects, quality of life. In Michalos, A. C. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-being Research. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 5555–9.Google Scholar
Sullivan, D. and von Wachter, T. 2009. Job displacement and mortality: an analysis using administrative data. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124, 3, 1265–306.Google Scholar
Szinovacz, M. E. and Davey, A. 2005. Predictors of perceptions of involuntary retirement. The Gerontologist, 45, 1, 36–47.Google Scholar
Van Soest, A., Kapteyn, A. and Zissimopoulos, J. 2007. Using stated preferences data to analyze preferences for full and partial retirement. IZA Discussion Paper 2785, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Solinge, H. 2007. Health change in retirement: a longitudinal study among older workers in the Netherlands. Research on Aging, 29, 3, 225–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Solinge, H. and Henkens, K. 2007. Involuntary retirement: the role of restrictive circumstances, timing, and social embeddedness. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 62B, 5, S295–303.Google Scholar
Van Solinge, H. and Henkens, K. 2010. Living longer, working longer? The impact of subjective life expectancy on retirement intentions and behaviour. European Journal of Public Health, 20, 1, 47–51.Google Scholar
Wahrendorf, M., Dragano, N. and Siegrist, J. 2013. Social position, work stress, and retirement intentions: a study with older employees from 11 European countries. European Sociological Review, 29, 4, 792–802.Google Scholar
Warr, P. 1982. A national study of non-financial employment commitment. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 55, 4, 297–312.Google Scholar