IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujoag/v20y2023i1d10.1007_s10433-023-00770-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changes in retirement plans in the English older population during the COVID-19 pandemic: The roles of health factors and financial insecurity

Author

Listed:
  • Claryn S. J. Kung

    (University College London)

  • Jingmin Zhu

    (University College London)

  • Paola Zaninotto

    (University College London)

  • Andrew Steptoe

    (University College London)

Abstract

Over the course of 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted lives globally. In the UK, unemployment rate continued to increase during and post-lockdown periods, and job security and financial wellbeing deteriorated. It is important to understand whether individual decisions related to retirement plans have changed systematically as a result of the pandemic, especially among older adults who experienced greater rates of pandemic unemployment. Using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this article examines changes in retirement plans of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and estimates the impact of health and financial circumstances on these changes. In June/July 2020, 5% of 2095 participants reported planning earlier retirement, while 9% reported planning later retirement. We found that poor self-rated health and financial insecurity were associated with intentions to postpone retirement. Additional risk of later retirement associated with poor health was detected among those experiencing financial insecurity. In November/December 2020, 7% of 1845 participants reported planning earlier retirement, while 12% reported planning later retirement. We found that poor health was predictive of a lower relative risk of later retirement, while depressive symptomology and financial insecurity predicted a higher relative risk of later retirement. The findings imply a contextual role of health factors in, and a persistent influence of financial insecurity on, retirement planning in the older population.

Suggested Citation

  • Claryn S. J. Kung & Jingmin Zhu & Paola Zaninotto & Andrew Steptoe, 2023. "Changes in retirement plans in the English older population during the COVID-19 pandemic: The roles of health factors and financial insecurity," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:20:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10433-023-00770-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10433-023-00770-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10433-023-00770-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10433-023-00770-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sveinbjörn Blöndal & Stefano Scarpetta, 1999. "The Retirement Decision in OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 202, OECD Publishing.
    2. Zhiming Cheng & Silvia Mendolia & Alfredo R. Paloyo & David A. Savage & Massimiliano Tani, 2021. "Working parents, financial insecurity, and childcare: mental health in the time of COVID-19 in the UK," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 123-144, March.
    3. Sarath Delpachitra & Diana Beal, 2002. "Factors Influencing Planning For Retirement," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 21(3), pages 1-13, September.
    4. David H. Autor & Mark Duggan & Kyle Greenberg & David S. Lyle, 2016. "The Impact of Disability Benefits on Labor Supply: Evidence from the VA's Disability Compensation Program," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 31-68, July.
    5. Alicia H. Munnell & Robert K. Triest & Natalia Jivan, 2004. "How Do Pensions Affect Expected and Actual Retirement Ages?," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2004-27, Center for Retirement Research, revised Nov 2004.
    6. Joseph F. Quinn, 1977. "Microeconomic Determinants of Early Retirement: A Cross-Sectional View of White Married Men," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 12(3), pages 329-346.
    7. Owen Davis, 2021. "Employment and Retirement Among Older Workers During the Covid-19 Pandemic," SCEPA publication series. 2021-06, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    8. Ken Mayhew & Paul Anand, 2020. "COVID-19 and the UK labour market," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 36(Supplemen), pages 215-224.
    9. Decker, Simon & Schmitz, Hendrik, 2016. "Health shocks and risk aversion," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 156-170.
    10. Abigail Hurwitz & Olivia S. Mitchell & Orly Sade, 2021. "Longevity Perceptions and Saving Decisions during the COVID-19 Outbreak: An Experimental Investigation," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 297-301, May.
    11. Rudy Arthur, 2021. "Studying the UK job market during the COVID-19 crisis with online job ads," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-24, May.
    12. Owen Davis, 2021. "Employment and Retirement Among Older Workers During the Covid-19 Pandemic," SCEPA working paper series. 2021-06, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    13. Christophe Courbage & Guillem Montoliu-Montes & Béatrice Rey, 2018. "How vulnerable is risk aversion to wealth, health and other risks? An empirical analysis for Europe," Working Papers 1827, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    14. Carlota de Miquel & Joan Domènech-Abella & Mireia Felez-Nobrega & Paula Cristóbal-Narváez & Philippe Mortier & Gemma Vilagut & Jordi Alonso & Beatriz Olaya & Josep Maria Haro, 2022. "The Mental Health of Employees with Job Loss and Income Loss during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Perceived Financial Stress," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-14, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Owen Davis & Siavash Radpour, 2021. "Dissecting the Pandemic Retirement Surge," SCEPA policy note series. 2021-03, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    2. Tomas Pedro Sanguinetti, 2019. "How Do Couples Choose Individual Insurance Plans? Evidence from Medicare Part D," 2019 Papers psa1760, Job Market Papers.
    3. Jeff Borland, 2005. "Transitions to Retirement: A Review," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2005n03, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    4. Tomasz Jedynak, 2022. "Does the Formulation of the Decision Problem Affect Retirement?—Framing Effect and Planned Retirement Age," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-30, February.
    5. Stefani Milovanska-Farrington & Stephen Farrington, 2021. "Discipline, risk, and the endogeneity between financial decisionmaking and health," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 45(4), pages 596-636, October.
    6. Björn Bos & Moritz A. Drupp & Jasper N. Meya & Martin F. Quaas, 2023. "Financial Risk-Taking under Health Risk," CESifo Working Paper Series 10387, CESifo.
    7. Trung X. Hoang & Nga V. T. Le, 2021. "Natural disasters and risk aversion: Evidence from Vietnam," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(3), pages 211-229, August.
    8. Foliano, Francesca & Tonei, Valentina & Sevilla, Almudena, 2024. "Social restrictions, leisure and well-being," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    9. Barthel, Jens, 2008. "Can age discrimination be justified with a lower productivity of older workers?," MPRA Paper 14682, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Gordon B. Dahl & Anne C. Gielen, 2021. "Intergenerational Spillovers in Disability Insurance," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 116-150, April.
    11. Niculaescu, Corina E. & Sangiorgi, Ivan & Bell, Adrian R., 2023. "Does personal experience with COVID-19 impact investment decisions? Evidence from a survey of US retail investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    12. Laurence J. Kotlikoff & David A. Wise, 1988. "Pension Backloading, Wage Taxes, and Work Disincentives," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy: Volume 2, pages 161-196, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Kárpáti, D.;, 2022. "Household Finance and Life-Cycle Economic Decisions under the Shadow of Cancer," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 22/16, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    14. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:305-355 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. repec:kap:iaecre:v:12:y:2006:i:4:p:530-539 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Richard L. Johnson, 2000. "The effect of old-age insurance on male retirement : evidence from historical cross-country data," Research Working Paper RWP 00-09, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    17. Kadir Atalay & Garry F. Barrett & Peter Siminski, 2019. "Pension incentives and the joint retirement of couples: evidence from two natural experiments," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 735-767, July.
    18. Anders Stenberg & Xavier Luna & Olle Westerlund, 2012. "Can adult education delay retirement from the labour market?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 677-696, January.
    19. Solmaz Moslehi & Jaai Parasnis & Massimiliano Tani & Josephina Vejayaratnam, 2021. "Assaults during lockdown in New South Wales and Victoria," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 24(2), pages 199-212.
    20. Wilson, Jessica & Demou, Evangelia & Kromydas, Theocharis, 2024. "COVID-19 lockdowns and working women's mental health: Does motherhood and size of workplace matter? A comparative analysis using understanding society," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    21. Mr. Francesco Grigoli & Zsoka Koczan & Petia Topalova, 2018. "Drivers of Labor Force Participation in Advanced Economies: Macro and Micro Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2018/150, International Monetary Fund.
    22. Desmet, Raphaël & Jousten, Alain & Perelman, Sergio, 2005. "The Benefits of Separating Early Retirees from the Unemployed: Simulation Results for Belgian Wage Earners," IZA Discussion Papers 1571, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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:spr:eujoag:v:20:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10433-023-00770-1. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.