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Use and misuse of unemployment benefits for early retirement

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  • Cremer, Helmuth
  • Lozachmeur, Jean-Marie
  • Pestieau, Pierre

Abstract

Unemployment insurance (UI) in some countries is one of the most widely used routes to early retirement. Accordingly, firms lay off elderly workers whose wages exceed their productivity. These workers then receive unemployment benefits until they enter formal retirement, even though they have effectively already exited the labor market. To persuade them into finding the deal acceptable, they quite often may also receive some additional compensation from their employers. In this paper we consider three routes of transition from work to formal retirement that rely on UI: (i) standard unemployment compensation, (ii) public early retirement program yielding benefits higher than the unemployment compensation and (iii) unemployment compensation along with an income supplement provided by the former employer. The study examines under which conditions these three alternative practices can occur.

Suggested Citation

  • Cremer, Helmuth & Lozachmeur, Jean-Marie & Pestieau, Pierre, 2009. "Use and misuse of unemployment benefits for early retirement," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 174-185, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:25:y:2009:i:2:p:174-185
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    Cited by:

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    2. Alain Jousten & Mathieu Lefebvre & Sergio Perelman, 2012. "Disability in Belgium: There Is More Than Meets the Eye," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Historical Trends in Mortality and Health, Employment, and Disability Insurance Participatio, pages 251-276, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Lorenz, Svenja & Zwick, Thomas & Bruns, Mona, 2022. "Beware of the employer: Financial incentives for employees may fail to prolong old-age employment," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    4. Hugo Benítez-Silva & Richard Disney & Sergi Jiménez-Martín, 2010. "Disability, capacity for work and the business cycle: an international perspective [Has the boom in incapacity benefit claimant numbers passed its peak?]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 25(63), pages 483-536.
    5. Andrews Dan & Ferrari Irene & Saia Alessandro, 2019. "The Costs of Firm Exit and Labour Market Policies: New Evidence from Europe," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-24, January.
    6. Ehrich, Malte & Munasib, Abdul & Roy, Devesh, 2018. "The Hartz reforms and the German labor force," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 284-300.
    7. Filges, Trine & Larsen, Mona & Pedersen, Peder J., 2012. "Retirement: Does Individual Unemployment Matter? Evidence from Danish Panel Data 1980–2009," IZA Discussion Papers 6538, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    Keywords

    Early retirement Unemployment;

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