Old‐Age Employment and Hours of Work Trends: Empirical Analysis for Four European Countries

28 Pages Posted: 21 Mar 2016

See all articles by Arjeta Aliaj

Arjeta Aliaj

HEC-ULg University of Liège

Alain Jousten

University of Liege; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Netspar; International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Sergio Perelman

University of Liège - Department of Economics

Lin Shi

HEC-ULg University of Liège

Abstract

For the last two decades, the increase of employment among cohorts of individuals aged 50+ has been a policy objective on the European employment agenda. The present paper takes stock of the situation as observed in Belgium over the time period 1997-2011. First, we provide analysis on the evolution of older workers' employment in Belgium and its neighboring countries Germany, France and the Netherlands using the EU Labour Force Survey. Second, we characterize the different employment and hours of work patterns for different age sub‐groups (50‐54, 55‐59, 60‐64) and provide evidence on their respective evolution. The results show that employment rates among older workers started to catch‐up with employment rates of younger cohorts as of 2001, and with more acuity after 2006. This effect dominates the observed negative effect on hours of work and hence leads to an increase in total hours of work of the cohort – net of any purely demographic effects.

Keywords: retirement, employment, hours of work

JEL Classification: J08, J21, J26

Suggested Citation

Aliaj, Arjeta and Jousten, Alain and Perelman, Sergio and Shi, Lin, Old‐Age Employment and Hours of Work Trends: Empirical Analysis for Four European Countries. IZA Discussion Paper No. 9819, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2750302 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2750302

Arjeta Aliaj (Contact Author)

HEC-ULg University of Liège ( email )

Rue Louvrex
Liège, 4000
Belgium

Alain Jousten

University of Liege ( email )

Place des Orateurs 3
Batiment B31
4000 Liege
Belgium
+32 4 366 3198 (Phone)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Netspar

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

700 19th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20431
United States

Sergio Perelman

University of Liège - Department of Economics ( email )

7 Boulevard du Rectorat
Batiment B31
4000 Liege
Belgium
+32 4 156 3098 (Phone)
+32 4 156 2958 (Fax)

Lin Shi

HEC-ULg University of Liège

Rue Louvrex
Liège, 4000
Belgium

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
31
Abstract Views
444
PlumX Metrics