Direct and indirect impacts of pension systems on senior employment: recent findings[Impacts directs et indirects des systèmes de retraite sur l'emploi des seniors : Résultats récents]

Several recent studies have provided an opportunity to assess that the extension of the minimum contribution period required for a full-rate retirement pension has significantly delayed the effective retirement age –both for women and men, in the private as well as in the public sector. New studies show that, in the private sector, this extension of the minimum contribution period appears to induce indirectly an increase in senior employment between age 55 and 60, i.e. before the minimum eligibility age threshold. This impact seems to operate through two distinct mechanisms: first, the "working horizon" mechanism; secondly, the fact that persons who have not yet reached the minimum contribution period required for a full-rate pension are less encouraged –or less in a position– to benefit from early retirement plan schemes.