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Absenteeism, childcare and the effectiveness of pension reforms

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  • Flavia Coda Moscarola
  • Elsa Fornero
  • Steinar Strøm

Abstract

Both economic and epidemiological literature have shown that perceived high strain at work and lack of social infrastructures are good predictors of sick leave. The latter is particularly relevant in countries where facilities for children and care services are scarce and women are asked to fill the gap. The Italian 2011 pension reform significantly restricted age and seniority requirements for retirement, especially for women in private employment. We investigated whether older Italian employed women reacted to the postponement of retirement by increasing their sick leave. The empirical analysis offers unequivocal evidence that this has indeed been the case, in particular, for low-income grandmothers living in regions with a poor supply of childcare services. Radical reforms risk losing some of their effectiveness if they are not accompanied by parallel measures designed to introduce the welfare provisions previously indirectly and inadequately provided by the pension system, such as care facilities. JEL codes: J26, J13, C33 Copyright Coda Moscarola et al. 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Flavia Coda Moscarola & Elsa Fornero & Steinar Strøm, 2016. "Absenteeism, childcare and the effectiveness of pension reforms," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izaels:v:5:y:2016:i:1:p:1-18:10.1186/s40174-016-0056-3
    DOI: 10.1186/s40174-016-0056-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Manuel Serrano‐Alarcón & Chiara Ardito & Roberto Leombruni & Alexander Kentikelenis & Angelo d’Errico & Anna Odone & Giuseppe Costa & David Stuckler & IWGRH, 2023. "Health and labor market effects of an unanticipated rise in retirement age. Evidence from the 2012 Italian pension reform," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2745-2767, December.
    2. 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.
    3. Serena Trucchi & Elsa Fornero & Mariacristina Rossi, 2018. "Retirement rigidities and the gap between effective and desired labour supply by older workers," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Bertoni, Marco & Brunello, Giorgio & Mazzarella, Gianluca, 2018. "Does postponing minimum retirement age improve healthy behaviors before retirement? Evidence from middle-aged Italian workers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 215-227.
    5. Brunello, Giorgio & De Paola, Maria & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2023. "Pension Reforms, Longer Working Horizons and Absence from Work," IZA Discussion Papers 15871, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    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. Flavia Coda Moscarola & Riccardo Calcagno & Elsa Fornero, 2017. "oo busy to stay at work. How willing are Italian workers “to pay†for earlier retirement?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(3), pages 1694-1707.
    8. Vedrana Čikeš & Helga Maškarin Ribarić & Kristina Črnjar, 2018. "The Determinants and Outcomes of Absence Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-26, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pension reform; Sick leave; Childcare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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