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Commuting and timing of retirement

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  • Peter Bäckström
  • Erika Sandow
  • Olle Westerlund

Abstract

Interregional commuting is an important feature of labour supply and regional labour market adjustment. In this study, we examine the effect of long-distance commuting (LDC) on timing of retirement. Previous research indicates negative health effects and substantial disutility of commuting. Potentially, this may affect the labour supply of older workers via early retirement. Longitudinal population register data from Sweden on employed older workers are used for semi-parametric estimation of survival in the labour force. The results for men indicate shorter survival in the labour force/earlier retirement for LDCs, primarily among men with high education. For women, there is no evidence of LDC being associated with early retirement. For women with high education, there are indications of longer survival in the labour force among the commuters. The seemingly contradictory results for the highly educated may be due to gender differences in commuting distances and socio-economic attributes of commuters. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Bäckström & Erika Sandow & Olle Westerlund, 2016. "Commuting and timing of retirement," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(1), pages 125-152, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:anresc:v:56:y:2016:i:1:p:125-152
    DOI: 10.1007/s00168-015-0723-8
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    J61 Geographical Labour Mobility; J26 Retirement; R00 Regional Economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General

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