Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T21:23:07.112Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Active ageing policies and delaying retirement: comparing work-retirement transitions in Austria and Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2021

Lisa Schmidthuber Open the ORCID record for Lisa Schmidthuber [Opens in a new window] ,
Charlotte Fechter Open the ORCID record for Charlotte Fechter [Opens in a new window] ,
Heike Schröder Open the ORCID record for Heike Schröder [Opens in a new window]  and
Moritz Hess
Lisa Schmidthuber
Affiliation:
Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria
Charlotte Fechter*
Affiliation:
Universität Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany
Heike Schröder
Affiliation:
Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Moritz Hess
Affiliation:
Hochschule Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, Mönchengladbach, Germany
*
Email: fechter@uni-landau.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We investigate how labour market and pension measures associated with active ageing influence retirement behaviour in Austria and Germany. We focus on two conservative welfare states and evaluate how individuals respond to comparable pension scheme changes. Using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, findings point to increasing average actual retirement ages in both countries. Early retirement becomes less important while working until pension age has gained in significance. In particular, findings point towards greater de-standardisation of retirement transitions, though to a different extent across the two countries. Whereas gender differences are still prevalent in Austria, in line with traditional conservative welfare state characteristics, we find that Germany exhibits lower gender differences, but instead displays stronger inequalities between education groups. We argue that social risks emerge in Germany that are usually found in liberal welfare states. We suggest that this trend is reinforced by retirement policies that focus on “pushing” individuals out of employment. This study contributes to the understanding of how individuals respond to national policy incentives when making retirement transitions.

Keywords

Retirement transitionspension reforminstitutionalismAustriaGermany

JEL classification

J11: Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts J14: Economics of the Elderly • Economics of the Handicapped • Non-Labor Market Discrimination J26: Retirement • Retirement Policies
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , July 2021 , pp. 176 - 193
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Social Policy Association

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

Anckar, C. (2008). On the applicability of the most similar systems design and the most different systems design in comparative research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 11(5), 389–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbosa, L. M., Monteiro, B., & Murta, S. G. (2016). Retirement adjustment predictors – A systematic review. Work, Aging and Retirement, 2(2), 262–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berghammer, C. (2014). The return of the male breadwinner model? Educational effects on parents work arrangements in Austria, 1980–2009. Work, Employment and Society, 28(4), 611–632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blank, F., Logeay, C., Türk, E., Wöss, J., & Zwiener, R. (2016). Österreichs Alterssicherung: Vorbild für Deutschland? Wirtschaftsdienst. Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, 4, 279–286.Google Scholar
Blossfeld, H. P., Buchholz, S., & Kurz, K. (2010). Aging populations, globalization and the labor market. Comparing late working life and retirement in modern societies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Börsch-Supan, A. (2020). Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) Wave 6. Release version: 6.1.0. SHARE-ERIC. Data set. DOI: 10.6103/SHARE.w6.710 (data downloaded March 2017).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Börsch-Supan, A., Brandt, M, Hunkler, C, Kneip, T, Korbmacher, J, Malter, F, Schaan, B, Stuck, S, Zuber, S (2013). Data Resource Profile: The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). International Journal of Epidemiology. DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyt088.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Börsch-Supan, A. & Jürges, H (Eds.) (2005). The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe – Methodology. Mannheim: Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA).Google Scholar
Börsch-Supan, A. (2018). Survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe (SHARE) Wave 1. Release version: 6.1.0. SHARE-ERIC. Data set. DOI:10.6103/SHARE.w1.611 (data downloaded March 2017).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchholz, S., Rinklake, A., & Blossfeld, H. P. (2013). Reversing early retirement in germany a longitudinal analysis of the effects of recent pension reforms on the timing of the transition to retirement and on pension incomes. Comparative Population Studies, 38(4), 881–906.10.12765/CPoS-2013-23CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvo, E., Madero-Cabib, I., & Staudinger, U. M. (2018). Retirement sequences of older Americans: Moderately destandardized and highly stratified across gender, class, and race. The Gerontologist, 58(6): 1166–1176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Preter, H., Van Looy, D., & Mortelmans, D. (2013). Individual and institutional push and pull factors as predictors of retirement timing in Europe: A multilevel analysis. Journal of Ageing Studies, 27, 299–307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebbinghaus, B. (2006). Reforming early retirement in Europe, Japan and the USA. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B. (2011). The varieties of pension governance. Pension privatization in Europe. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B. (2015). The privatization and marketization of pensions in Europe: A double transformation facing the crisis. European Policy Analysis, 1(1), 56–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B. & Hofäcker, D. (2013). Trendwende bei der Frühverrentung in modernen Wohlfahrtsstaaten. Paradigmenwechsel zur Überwindung von Push- und Pull- Faktoren. Comparative Population Studies – Zeitschrift für Bevölkerungswissenschaft, 38 (4), 841–880.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fasang, A. (2012): Retirement Patterns and Income Inequality. Social Forces, 90(3), 685–711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fechter, C (2019). Propensities to work at an old age: Acknowledging differences in Active Ageing? Dissertation, www.factage.eu/publications, Landau: University of Koblenz-Landau.Google Scholar
Fechter, C. (2019). New modes, new challenges? The influence of extended working lives on the late employment phase in Germany. German Review of Social Policy, 68(4), 313–338.Google Scholar
Fechter, C. & Sesselmeier, W. (2017).Research Report on the Changing Labour Market Conditions of Older Workers. Working paper, www.factage.eu/publications, Landau: University of Koblenz-Landau.Google Scholar
Flynn, M., & Schröder, H. (2018). Age, work and pensions in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong: An institutional perspective. Economic and Industrial Democracy, First Published April 18, 2018. DOI:10.1177/0143831X18763542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hassel, A., Naczyk, M., & Wiß, T. (2019). The political economy of pension financialisation: public policy responses to the crisis. Journal of European Public Policy, 26(4), 483–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, M. (2016). Germany: A successful reversal of early retirement? In: Hofäcker, D., Hess, M., & König, S. (Eds.), Delaying retirement – Progress and challenges of active ageing in Europe, the United States and Japan (pp. 147–169). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hess, M. (2018). Expected retirement age in Germany – Towards rising social inequality? Societies, 8(3), 1–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, M., Bauknecht, J., & Pink, S. (2018). Hours flexibility and timing of retirement – Findings from Europe. Journal of Aging and Social Policy, 30(5), 478–494.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hofäcker, D., Schröder, H., Li, Y., & Flynn, M. (2016). Trends and determinants of work-retirement transitions under changing institutional conditions: Germany, England and Japan compared. Journal of Social Policy, 45(1), 39–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofer, H. (2007). The severance pay reform in Austria (“Abfertigung neu”). CESifo DICE Report, 5(4), 41–48. Available at: http://www.cesifo.de/DocDL/dicereport407-rm1.pdf (accessed 02 August 2019).Google Scholar
Inderbitzin, L., Staubli, S., & Zweimüller, J. (2016). Extended unemployment benefits and early retirement: Program complementarity and program substitution. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 8(1), 253–288.Google Scholar
Kojola, E., & Moen, P. (2016). No more lock-step retirement: Boomers’ shifting meanings of work and retirement. Journal of Aging Studies, 36, 59–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
König, S., Hess, M., & Hofäcker, D. (2016). Trends and determinants of retirement transition in Europe, the United States and Japan: A Comparative Overview. In: Hofäcker, D., Hess, M., & König, S. (Eds.), Delaying retirement – Progress and challenges of active ageing in Europe, the United States and Japan (pp. 23–51). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kutner, M. H., Nachtsheim, C., & Neter, J. (2004). Applied linear regression models. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. (1992). Gender and the development of welfare regimes. Journal of European Social Policy, 2(3), 159–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malter, F. and Börsch-Supan, A. (Eds.) (2017). SHARE Wave 6: Panel innovations and collecting Dried Blood Spots. Munich: MEA, Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.Google Scholar
Möhring, K., & Weiland, A. (2018): Ausgleich oder Verschärfung von Einkommensrisiken? Lebensläufe und Alterseinkommen in Deutschland aus der Paarperspektive. Zeitschrift für Sozialreform, 64(4), 463–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naczyk, M., & Hassel, A. (2019). Insuring individuals… and politicians: Financial services providers, stock market risk and the politics of private pension guarantees in Germany. Journal of European Public Policy, 26(4), 579–598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naumann, E. (2014). Raising the retirement age: Retrenchment, feedback and attitudes. In: Kumlin, S., & Stadelmann-Steffen, I. (Eds.), How welfare states shape the Democratic Public: Policy feedback, participation, voting and attitudes (pp. 223–243). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
OECD (2015). Pensions at a glance: OECD and G20 indicators. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (2016). Labour force statistics. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Pfau-Effinger, B. (2008). Cultural change and path departure: The example of family policies in conservative welfare states. In: Van Ooorschot, W., Opielka, M., & Pfau-Effinger, B. (Eds.), Culture and welfare state: Values and social policy in comparative perspective (pp. 185–204). Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C., Shepherd, S., Robinson, M., & Vickerstaff, S. (2018). Uncertain futures: Organisational influences on the transition from work to retirement. Social Policy and Society, 18(3), 335–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raab, R. (2008). Pension reform and retirement incentives: Evidence from Austria. PhD-Thesis, Georgia: Georgia State University.Google Scholar
Radl, J. (2007). Individuelle Determinanten des Renteneintrittsalters. Eine empirische Analyse von Übergängen in den Ruhestand. Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 36(1), 43–64.Google Scholar
Riekhoff, A.-J. (2019). De-standardisation and differentiation of retirement trajectories in the context of extended working lives in the Netherlands. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 40(4), 890–912.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubery, J., Grimshaw, D., Donnerly, R., & Urwin, P. (2009). Revisting the UK: From basket case to success story and back again? In: Bosch, G., Lehndorff, S., & Rubery, J. (Eds.), European employment models in Flux. A comparison of institutional change in nine European countries (pp. 57–77). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sackmann, R., & Wingens, M. (2003). From transitions to trajectories: Sequence types. In: Heinz, W. R., & Marshall, V. W. (Eds.), Social dynamics of the life course. Transitions, institutions, and interrelations (pp. 93–115). Routledge: Abingdon-on-Thames.Google Scholar
Schelkle, W. (2019). EU pension policy and financialisation: Purpose without power? Journal of European Public Policy, 26(4), 599–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidthuber, L., Schröder, H., & Panzenböck, E. (2016). Retirement determinants in Austria: An ageing society but a hesitant policy maker!? In: Hofäcker, D., Hess, M., & König, S. (Eds.), Delaying retirement – Progress and challenges of active ageing in Europe, the United States and Japan (pp. 195–220). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Stiemke, P. (2020). Reformen zur Erhöhung der Erwerbsbeteiligung Älterer–Finnland, Dänemark, Niederlande, Deutschland und das Vereinigte Königreich im Vergleich. In: Naegele, G., & Hess, M. (Eds.), Alte und neue soziale Ungleichheiten bei Berufsaufgabe und Rentenübergang (pp. 99–131). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trampusch, C. (2009). Europeanization and institutional change in vocational education and training in Austria and Germany. Governance, 22(3), 369–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Horst, M., Lain, D., Vickerstaff, S., Clark, C., & Baumberg-Geiger, B. (2017). Gender roles and employment pathways of older women and men in England. Sage Open, 7(4), 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Oorschot, K., & Jensen, P. H. (2009). Early retirement differences between Denmark and the Netherlands. A cross-national comparison of push and pull factors in two small European welfare states. Journal of Aging Studies, 23, 267–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, A., & Maltby, T. (2012). Active ageing: A strategic policy solution to demographic ageing in the European Union. International Journal of Social Welfare, 21, 117–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, M., & Wanberg, C. R. (2017). 100 years of applied psychology research on individual careers: From career management to retirement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 546–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiß, T. (2018). Divergent occupational pensions in Bismarckian countries: Case of Germany and Austria. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 24(1), 91–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiß, T. (2019). Reinforcement of pension financialisation as a response to financial crises in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Journal of European Public Policy, 26(4), 501–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiß, T., Schmidthuber, L., & Bordone, V. (2020). Quality of working conditions, sector of employment and age at retirement. mrev management revue, 31(2), 145–166.10.5771/0935-9915-2020-2-145CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zweimüller, J., & Staubli, S. (2012). Wege in die Frühpension. Der Übergang in den Ruhestand in Österreich. Project report of Austrian federal ministry of labour social affairs, health and consumer protection, Vienna.Google Scholar