IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/nbr/nberch/14047.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Labor Force Participation of the Elderly in Japan

In: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Working Longer

Author

Listed:
  • Takashi Oshio
  • Emiko Usui
  • Satoshi Shimizutani

Abstract

Japan experienced increases in labor force participation (LFP) of the elderly in recent years, as have other advanced countries. In the present study, we overview the employment trend of the elderly in Japan, and examine what factors have contributed to its increase since the early 2000s. Improved health and longevity, increasing education levels, and a shift towards less physically demanding jobs have allowed the elderly to stay longer in the labor force. However, elderly employment rebound and its timing are more closely linked to changes in social security incentives, especially increases in the eligibility age for public pension benefits. More broadly, reduced generosity in social security programs since the mid-1980s has been a key driver of the long-term trend change in elderly employment. A series of social security reforms have helped utilize the elderly’s potential work capacity, accumulated due to improving health conditions and other favorable factors for LFP in the elderly.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Takashi Oshio & Emiko Usui & Satoshi Shimizutani, 2018. "Labor Force Participation of the Elderly in Japan," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Working Longer, pages 163-178, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:14047
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c14047.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David A. Wise, 2012. "Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Historical Trends in Mortality and Health, Employment, and Disability Insurance Participation and Reforms," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number wise11-1, July.
    2. Naohiro Yashiro & Takashi Oshio, 1999. "Social Security and Retirement in Japan," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security and Retirement around the World, pages 239-267, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Takashi Oshio & Emiko Usui & Satoshi Shimizutani, 2018. "Labor Force Participation of the Elderly in Japan," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Working Longer, pages 163-178, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Jonathan Gruber & David A. Wise, 1999. "Social Security and Retirement around the World," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number grub99-1, July.
    5. Gary V. Engelhardt & Jonathan Gruber, 2004. "Social Security and the Evolution of Elderly Poverty," NBER Working Papers 10466, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Emiko Usui & Satoshi Shimizutani & Takashi Oshio, 2017. "Health Capacity to Work at Older Ages: Evidence from Japan," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: The Capacity to Work at Older Ages, pages 219-241, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Oshio, Takashi & Shimizutani, Satoshi, 2019. "Health capacity to work and its long-term trend among the Japanese elderly," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 76-86.
    2. Emiko Usui & Satoshi Shimizutani & Takashi Oshio, 2016. "Are Japanese Men of Pensionable Age Underemployed or Overemployed?," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 150-168, June.
    3. Dean Hyslop & Amy Rice & Hayden Skilling, 2019. "Understanding labour market developments in New Zealand, 1986-2017," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Discussion Paper Series DP2019/02, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
    4. Matsukura, Rikiya & Shimizutani, Satoshi & Mitsuyama, Nahoko & Lee, Sang-Hyop & Ogawa, Naohiro, 2018. "Untapped work capacity among old persons and their potential contributions to the “silver dividend” in Japan," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 236-249.
    5. Takashi Oshio & Emiko Usui & Satoshi Shimizutani, 2018. "Labor Force Participation of the Elderly in Japan," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Working Longer, pages 163-178, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. OSHIO Takashi, 2018. "Health Capacity to Work and Its Long-term Trend among the Japanese Elderly," Discussion papers 18079, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. OSHIO Takashi, 2018. "Health Capacity to Work and Its Long-term Trend among the Japanese Elderly," Discussion papers 18079, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Emiko Usui & Satoshi Shimizutani & Takashi Oshio, 2016. "Are Japanese Men of Pensionable Age Underemployed or Overemployed?," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 150-168, June.
    3. Oshio, Takashi & Shimizutani, Satoshi, 2019. "Health capacity to work and its long-term trend among the Japanese elderly," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 76-86.
    4. Gonzalez-Eiras, Martín & Niepelt, Dirk, 2012. "Ageing, government budgets, retirement, and growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 97-115.
    5. Pilar García-Gómez & Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Judit Vall Castelló, 2014. "Financial Incentives, Health, and Retirement in Spain," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Disability Insurance Programs and Retirement, pages 455-495, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Cristiano Antonelli, 2017. "The Engines of the Creative Response: Reactivity and Knowledge Governance," Economía: teoría y práctica, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México, vol. 47(2), pages 9-30, Julio-Dic.
    7. Axel Börsch-Supan & Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Felizia Hanemann, 2018. "Early Determinants of Work Disability in an International Perspective," NBER Working Papers 25142, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Cutler, David & Johnson, Richard, 2004. "The Birth and Growth of the Social Insurance State: Explaining Old-Age and Medical Insurance Across Countries," Scholarly Articles 2643658, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    9. Chiara Ardito, 2017. "Rising pension age in Italy: Employment response and Program substitution," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 155, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
    10. Zweimüller, Josef & Staubli, Stefan, 2011. "Does Raising the Retirement Age Increase Employment of Older Workers?," CEPR Discussion Papers 8510, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Matsukura, Rikiya & Shimizutani, Satoshi & Mitsuyama, Nahoko & Lee, Sang-Hyop & Ogawa, Naohiro, 2018. "Untapped work capacity among old persons and their potential contributions to the “silver dividend” in Japan," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 236-249.
    12. Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & David Weil, 2010. "Mortality change, the uncertainty effect, and retirement," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 65-91, March.
    13. Alfonso Sánchez-Martin & J. García-Pérez & Sergi Jiménez-Martín, 2014. "Delaying the Normal and Early Retirement Ages in Spain: Behavioural and Welfare Consequences for Employed and Unemployed Workers," De Economist, Springer, vol. 162(4), pages 341-375, December.
    14. Martina Celidoni & Chiara Dal Bianco & Vincenzo Rebba & Guglielmo Weber, 2020. "Retirement and Healthy Eating," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 199-219, March.
    15. James Banks & Carl Emmerson & Gemma Tetlow, 2017. "Health Capacity to Work at Older Ages: Evidence from the United Kingdom," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: The Capacity to Work at Older Ages, pages 329-357, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Alain Jousten & Mathieu Lefebvre & Sergio Perelman, 2014. "Health Status, Disability, and Retirement Incentives in Belgium," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Disability Insurance Programs and Retirement, pages 179-209, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Oshio, Takashi & Shimizutani, Satoshi & Oishi, Akiko S., 2020. "Examining how elderly employment is associated with institutional disincentives in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    18. Axel H. Börsch-Supan & Courtney Coile, 2018. "Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Reforms and Retirement Incentives – Introduction and Summary," NBER Working Papers 25280, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Didier Blanchet & Antoine Bozio & Corinne Prost & Muriel Roger, 2018. "Explaining the Reversal in the Trend of Older Workers’ Employment Rates: The Case of France," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Working Longer, pages 87-115, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Velloso, Helvia, 2006. "Social Security in the United States: Overview and Outlook," Documentos de Proyectos 3681, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:14047. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.