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Worsening workers' health by lowering retirement age: The malign consequences of a benign reform

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  • Bauer, Ann Barbara
  • Eichenberger, Reiner

Abstract

We analyze how a reduction in retirement age affects pre-retirement sickness absences and health problems. We examine a policy change in pension eligibility in the Swiss construction sector, which lowered retirement age from 65 to 60. While the reform was intended to improve workers' health, it resulted in the opposite outcome. We find that sickness absences for 56–60-year-old construction workers increase by 33% when working until 60 instead of 65, and their probability of self-reported health problems increases by 54%. We also find a negative but less pronounced effect for the 61–65 age group. Our results imply that lowering the retirement age has not only material costs but also unintended immaterial costs. If the effect is symmetric, it implies that increasing retirement age has immaterial benefits by improving pre-retirement health of older workers.

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  • Bauer, Ann Barbara & Eichenberger, Reiner, 2021. "Worsening workers' health by lowering retirement age: The malign consequences of a benign reform," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joecag:v:18:y:2021:i:c:s2212828x2030061x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2020.100296
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    Cited by:

    1. Mohamed Ali Ben Halima & Camille Ciriez & Malik Koubi & Ali Skalli, 2021. "Retarder l’âge d’ouverture des droits à la retraite provoque-t-il un déversement de l’assurance-retraite vers l’assurance-maladie ? L’effet de la réforme des retraites de 2010 sur l’absence-maladie," Working Papers hal-03507914, HAL.
    2. Eve Caroli & Catherine Pollak & Muriel Roger, 2023. "The Health-Consumption Effects of Increasing Retirement Age Late in the Game," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 538, pages 49-67.
    3. Mohamed Ali Ben Halima & Camille Ciriez & Malik Koubi & Ali Skalli, 2022. "Retarder l’âge d’ouverture des droits à la retraite provoque-t-il un déversement de l’assurance-retraite vers l’assurance-maladie ? L’effet de la réforme des retraites de 2010 sur l’absence-maladie," Working Papers hal-03509628, HAL.
    4. Leonardo Becchetti & Fabio Pisani & Berkan Acar, 2023. "Eudaimonic wellbeing and life expectancy," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(2), pages 179-195, May.
    5. Barschkett, Mara & Geyer, Johannes & Haan, Peter & Hammerschmid, Anna, 2022. "The effects of an increase in the retirement age on health — Evidence from administrative data," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    6. Andree Ehlert & Eva García‐Morán, 2022. "Workers' self‐selection into public sector employment: A tale of absenteeism," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(3), pages 394-409, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pension reform; Natural experiment; Construction worker; Sickness absence; Poor health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • L74 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction - - - Construction

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