Der Zusammenhang zwischen Bildung und der Freiwilligkeit von Erwerbsaustritten

Public pay-as-you-go pension systems are under financial pressures due to demographic ageing. Thus, several reforms have been implemented which focus on an extension of working life. To this end early retirement options were abolished, statutory retirement ages increased, and active labour market measures implemented. It remains questionable, however, whether all older workers have the necessary resources to retire later and whether they perceive their retirement-transition as voluntary. The study at hand investigates the role of education as a socio-economic determinant for the voluntariness of the retirement-transition. Using data from the German Ageing Survey, it explores this context for two retirement cohorts (1999–2006; 2007–2014). The results show that for men in the younger retirement cohort a statistically significant correlation between education and the voluntariness of the retirement-transition can be identified, however not for women and men in the older retirement cohort. This can be an indication that, for future cohorts, socio-economic factors such as education, will play an increasing role in influencing the voluntariness of the retirement process.