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

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.

The why, what and how of career research: a review and recommendations for future study

“…chemo and, major surgeries) affect people's careers. While many studies still focus on the early career stages, with the abolition of a mandatory retirement age in many countries, there is a growing interest in studying the later career stages and retirement (Baruch et al, 2014;Schmidthuber et al, 2021).…”

Age-Related Human Resource Management Policies and Practices: Antecedents, Outcomes, and Conceptualizations

“…For example, the European Union set targets for the labor market participation of those aged 55 to 64 and to postpone retirement timing by five years by 2010 (von Nordheim, 2004). Furthermore, national governments started to abolish state-financed early retirement pathways, for example in Germany and Austria (Schmidthuber et al, 2021), and now increasingly aim to extend individuals' working lives by postponing or by abolishing the compulsory national retirement age, for example in the United Kingdom (Flynn & Schröder, 2018). Also, European Union members transposed EU-initiated anti-age discrimination legislation into national law in order to make it unlawful to discriminate against individuals in employment because of their biological age (Sargeant, 2008).…”

Theoretical Challenges and Social Inequalities in Active Ageing

“…The ISSP 2015 Work Orientations module [22] reveals that the proportion of older adults 56-65 years of age that "strongly agree" or "agree" with the statement that they would "Enjoy a paid job even if I did not need the money" was e.g., 67 per cent in Denmark and 34 per cent in Finland. With the Finnish figures in the back of one's mind, it becomes hard to claim that all older adults all over Europe will feel themselves 'empowered' or that they have been fully allowed to 'realise their potential' if they are forced to work longer as an outcome of active ageing policies, such as pension scheme changes [23]. Of course, the decision to raise state pension ages all over Europe is not necessarily an external force pressuring older workers to continue working.…”