Social Security and Retirement in Belgium

Abstract

Belgium like many other industrialized countries is facing serious problems in financing its social security. Whereas the effects of aging are still to come, Belgium currently experiences one of the lowest attachments to the labor force of older persons. This paper presents the key features of the Belgian social security system and focuses on labor force participation and benefit receipt. Most of the attention is given to the interaction between retirement behavior and the various social security schemes. By measuring the implicit tax/subsidy rate on work after 55 through these schemes, we can so explain the actual pattern of early and normal retirement of Belgian older workers.