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Can adult education delay retirement from the labour market?

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  • Anders Stenberg
  • Xavier Luna
  • Olle Westerlund

Abstract

Several studies have suggested that education is associated with later retirement from the labour market. In this paper, we examine whether adult education, involving enrolees aged 42 or above, delays retirement to potentially increase labour force participation among the elderly. With Swedish register data of transcripts from adult education and an-nual earnings, which encompasses 1979-2004 and 1982-2004 respectively, we exploit the fact that adult education is a large-scale phenomenon in Sweden and construct a measure of the timing of the transition from being self-supported by productive work to being supported by pension transfers. We match samples of treated and controls on the propen-sity score and use non-parametric estimation of survival rates. The results indicate that adult education has no effect on the timing of the retirement from the labour force. This can be contrasted with the fact that adult education is one of the cornerstones of the OECD strategy for “active ageing” and the European Union’s “Lisbon strategy” for growth and jobs.
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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:25:y:2012:i:2:p:677-696
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-010-0350-8
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    Cited by:

    1. Forslund, Anders, 2019. "Employment outcomes and policies in Sweden during recent decades," Working Paper Series 2019:15, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    2. Pierre-Jean Messe & Nathalie Greenan, 2023. "Knowledge transmission in the second part of careers: does formal training matter?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(7), pages 1415-1436, April.
    3. Guido Schwerdt & Dolores Messer & Ludger Woessmann & Stefan C. Wolter, 2011. "Effects of Adult Education Vouchers on the Labor Market: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 3331, CESifo.
    4. Schwerdt, Guido & Messer, Dolores & Woessmann, Ludger & Wolter, Stefan C., 2012. "The impact of an adult education voucher program: Evidence from a randomized field experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(7-8), pages 569-583.
    5. Ruhose, Jens & Thomsen, Stephan L. & Weilage, Insa, 2018. "The Wider Benefits of Adult Learning: Work-Related Training and Social Capital," IZA Discussion Papers 11854, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Jens Ruhose & Stephan L. Thomsen & Insa Weilage, 2018. "The Wider Benefits of Adult Learning: Work-Related Training and Social Capital," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1004, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    7. 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.
    8. Eyjólfsdóttir, H.S. & Baumann, I. & Agahi, N. & Fritzell, J. & Lennartsson, C., 2019. "Prolongation of working life and its effect on mortality and health in older adults: Propensity score matching," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 77-86.
    9. Monika Riedel & Helmut Hofer, 2013. "Determinants of the Transition from Work into Retirement," NRN working papers 2013-10, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    10. Anna Ruzik-Sierdzinska & Claudia Villosio & Michele Belloni & Maciej Lis & Monika Potoczna, 2013. "Age and productivity. Human Capital Accumulation and Depreciation," CASE Network Reports 0114, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    11. Montizaan, R.M. & de Grip, A. & Fouarge, D., 2015. "Training access, reciprocity, and expected retirement age," Research Memorandum 005, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    12. Stenberg, Anders & Westerlund, Olle, 2016. "Flexibility at a cost – Should governments stimulate tertiary education for adults?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 69-86.
    13. Ruhose, Jens & Thomsen, Stephan L. & Weilage, Insa, 2019. "The benefits of adult learning: Work-related training, social capital, and earnings," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 166-186.
    14. Kristensen, Nicolai, 2012. "Training and Retirement," IZA Discussion Papers 6301, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. N. Barban & X. de Luna & E. Lundholm & I. Svensson & F. C. Billari, 2020. "Causal Effects of the Timing of Life-course Events: Age at Retirement and Subsequent Health," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 49(1), pages 216-249, February.
    16. Stefan Denzler & Jens Ruhose & Stefan C. Wolter, 2022. ""The double-dividend of training" - Labour market effects of work-related continuous education in Switzerland," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0196, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    17. Anders Stenberg & Xavier Luna & Olle Westerlund, 2014. "Does Formal Education for Older Workers Increase Earnings? — Evidence Based on Rich Data and Long-term Follow-up," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 28(2), pages 163-189, June.
    18. Ann Barbara Bauer & Reiner Eichenberger, 2017. "Endogenous aging: How statutory retirement age drives human and social capital," CREMA Working Paper Series 2017-02, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    19. Frimmel, Wolfgang, 2021. "Later retirement and the labor market re-integration of elderly unemployed workers," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    20. Mona Larsen & Peder Pedersen, 2013. "To work, to retire – or both? Labor market activity after 60," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-20, December.
    21. Linda Kridahl, 2017. "Retirement timing and grandparenthood: A population-based study on Sweden," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(31), pages 957-994.
    22. Erika Sandow & Olle Westerlund & Urban Lindgren, 2014. "Is Your Commute Killing You? On the Mortality Risks of Long-Distance Commuting," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(6), pages 1496-1516, June.
    23. Schulte-Braucks, Philipp, 2013. "Von Schweden lernen: Weiterbildung gering Qualifizierter im Rahmen der kommunalen Erwachsenenbildung (Komvux)," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Skill Formation and Labor Markets SP I 2013-502, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    24. Anders Stenberg & Olle Westerlund, 2013. "Education and retirement: does University education at mid-age extend working life?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    25. Hend Gabr & Fiona Carmichael & Hui Li, 2019. "A Multilevel Simultaneous Equations Modelling Approach to Investigate the Relationship between Poverty and Labour-Force Participation among the Elderly in Egypt," International Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 22(1), pages 01-12, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human capital; Labour supply; Pensions; H52; H55; I28;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

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