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Beschäftigung und Arbeitslosigkeit älterer Arbeitnehmer / Employment and Unemployment of the Elderly: Eine mikroökonometrische Evaluation der Arbeitslosengeldreform von 1997 / A Microeconometric Evaluation of the Reform of the Unemployment Compensation System in 1997

Author

Listed:
  • Müller Eva
  • Zahn Philipp

    (Universität Mannheim und Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung ZEW, L7, 1, D-68034 Mannheim, Germany)

  • Wilke Ralf A.

    (Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung ZEW, L7, 1, D-68034 Mannheim, Germany, und University of Leicester, Department of Economics, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)

Abstract

In 1997, the German government enacted a reform of the unemployment insurance system which lead to a reduction of the maximum entitlement length for unemployment benefits of the older unemployed in the subsequent years. This paper analyses the effects of this reform on the risk of unemployment and on unemployment duration of the older unemployed aged 54-56. This group is of particular interest because it lost a smooth early retirement path via the unemployment benefits scheme. In our empirical analysis we use German administrative individual data drawn form the registers of the federal employment agency and of the public pension funds. After the reform we expect a lower risk of unemployment and shorter unemployment durations for the considered age group. This is confirmed by our empirical analysis. We show that the reform effectively reduced the amount of early retirement at the expense of the unemployment insurance. In particular larger companies and their employees use extended entitlement periods for unemployment benefits for early retirement purposes.

Suggested Citation

  • Müller Eva & Zahn Philipp & Wilke Ralf A., 2007. "Beschäftigung und Arbeitslosigkeit älterer Arbeitnehmer / Employment and Unemployment of the Elderly: Eine mikroökonometrische Evaluation der Arbeitslosengeldreform von 1997 / A Microeconometric Evalu," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 227(1), pages 65-86, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:227:y:2007:i:1:p:65-86:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/jbnst-2007-0105
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Martin Biewen & Ralf Wilke, 2005. "Unemployment duration and the length of entitlement periods for unemployment benefits: do the IAB employment subsample and the German Socio-Economic Panel yield the same results?," AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis, Springer;German Statistical Society, vol. 89(2), pages 209-236, June.
    2. Tomi Kyyrä & Ralf A. Wilke, 2007. "Reduction in the Long-Term Unemployment of the Elderly: A Success Story from Finland," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 5(1), pages 154-182, March.
    3. Elke Lüdemann & Ralf Wilke & Xuan Zhang, 2006. "Censored quantile regressions and the length of unemployment periods in West Germany," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 1003-1024, November.
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    8. Romain Duval, 2003. "The Retirement Effects of Old-Age Pension and Early Retirement Schemes in OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 370, OECD Publishing.
    9. Berkel, Barbara & Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2003. "Renteneintrittsentscheidungen in Deutschland: Langfristige Auswirkungen verschiedener Reformoptionen," MEA discussion paper series 03031, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
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