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Trends and Determinants of Work-Retirement Transitions under Changing Institutional Conditions: Germany, England and Japan compared

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2015

DIRK HOFÄCKER ,
HEIKE SCHRÖDER ,
YUXIN LI  and
MATTHEW FLYNN
DIRK HOFÄCKER
Affiliation:
University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of Social Work and Social Policy, Berliner Platz 6—8 45127 Essen, Germany email: [email protected]
HEIKE SCHRÖDER
Affiliation:
Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Management School, Riddel Hall, 185 Stranmillis Road, Belfast, BT9 5EE, United Kingdom email: [email protected]
YUXIN LI
Affiliation:
University of Warwick, Institute for Employment Research, Room B0.30, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom email: [email protected]
MATTHEW FLYNN
Affiliation:
Newcastle University Business School, Centre for Research into the Older Workforce (CROW), 5 Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SE, United Kingdom email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Many governments world-wide are promoting longer working life due to the social and economic repercussions of demographic change. However, not all workers are equally able to extend their employment careers. Thus, while national policies raise the overall level of labour market participation, they might create new social and labour market inequalities. This paper explores how institutional differences in the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan affect individual retirement decisions on the aggregate level, and variations in individuals’ degree of choice within and across countries. We investigate which groups of workers are disproportionately at risk of being ‘pushed’ out of employment, and how such inequalities have changed over time. We use comparable national longitudinal survey datasets focusing on the older population in England, Germany and Japan. Results point to cross-national differences in retirement transitions. Retirement transitions in Germany have occurred at an earlier age than in England and Japan. In Japan, the incidence of involuntary retirement is the lowest, reflecting an institutional context prescribing that employers provide employment until pension age, while Germany and England display substantial proportions of involuntary exits triggered by organisational-level redundancies, persistent early retirement plans or individual ill-health.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 39 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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