IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/21478.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Can Policy Facilitate Partial Retirement? Evidence from Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Berg
  • Mary K. Hamman
  • Matthew Piszczek
  • Christopher J. Ruhm

Abstract

In 1996, Germany introduced the Altersteilzeit (ATZ) law, which encouraged longer working lives through partial retirement incentives. Using matched pension system and establishment survey data, we estimate changes in part-time employment and retirement after ATZ. We find the policy induced growth in part-time work for men and extended men's expected duration of employment by 1.8 years. As the policy evolved to include an abrupt retirement option, the worklife gain for men fell to 1.2 years. Among women, part-time employment grew less and employment duration changed little initially but later declined by 0.2 years when abrupt retirement became available.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Berg & Mary K. Hamman & Matthew Piszczek & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2015. "Can Policy Facilitate Partial Retirement? Evidence from Germany," NBER Working Papers 21478, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21478
    Note: AG LS PE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w21478.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maxime Comeau & Denis Latulippe, 2015. "Effective Age of Retirement: Innovative Methodology and Recent Experience," CIRANO Working Papers 2015s-13, CIRANO.
    2. Graf, Nikolaus & Hofer, Helmut & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2011. "Labor supply effects of a subsidized old-age part-time scheme in Austria," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 44(3), pages 217-229.
    3. Heining, Jörg & Scholz, Theresa & Seth, Stefan, 2013. "Linked-Employer-Employee data from the IAB: LIAB cross-sectional model 2 1993-2010 (LIAB QM2 9310)," FDZ Datenreport. Documentation on Labour Market Data 201302_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    4. Gustman, Alan L & Steinmeier, Thomas L, 1985. "The 1983 Social Security Reforms and Labor Supply Adjustments of Older Individuals in the Long Run," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(2), pages 237-253, April.
    5. Wanger, Susanne, 2010. "Die Altersteilzeit im Zusammenspiel individueller und betrieblicher Einflussfaktoren," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 63(8), pages 395-403.
    6. Maxime Comeau & Denis Latulippe, 2015. "Effective Age of Retirement: Innovative Methodology and Recent Experience," Cahiers de recherche 1504, Chaire de recherche Industrielle Alliance sur les enjeux économiques des changements démographiques.
    7. Marco Caliendo & Jens Hogenacker, 2012. "The German labor market after the Great Recession: successful reforms and future challenges," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-24, December.
    8. Nicole Maestas & Julie Zissimopoulos, 2010. "How Longer Work Lives Ease the Crunch of Population Aging," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 139-160, Winter.
    9. Fuchs, Johann & Söhnlein, Doris & Weber, Brigitte, 2008. "Demographic effects on the German labour supply : a decomposition analysis," IAB-Discussion Paper 200831, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    10. Huber, Martin & Lechner, Michael & Wunsch, Conny, 2013. "The effect of firms' partial retirement policies on the labour market outcomes of their employees," Working papers 2013/12, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    11. Denis LATULIPPE & John TURNER, 2000. "Partial retirement and pension policy in industrialized countries," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 139(2), pages 179-195, June.
    12. repec:iab:iabfda:201302(en is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Ellguth, Peter & Kohaut, Susanne, 2015. "Tarifbindung und betriebliche Interessenvertretung: Ergebnisse aus dem IAB-Betriebspanel 2014," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 68(4), pages 290-297.
    14. Boss, Alfred & Elendner, Thomas, 2005. "Incentives to work: The case of Germany," Kiel Working Papers 1237, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Haan, Peter & Tolan, Songül, 2019. "Labor supply and fiscal effects of partial retirement – The role of entry age and the timing of pension benefits," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    2. Andrea Albanese & Bart Cockx & Yannick Thuy, 2020. "Working time reductions at the end of the career: Do they prolong the time spent in employment?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 99-141, July.
    3. Endler, Johannes & Geyer, Johannes, 2017. "The Interaction of Pension System and Unemployment Insurance - Evidence from two Reforms," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168279, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. repec:diw:diwwpp:dp1679 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Songül Tolan, 2015. "Die Flexibilisierung des Rentenübergangs in Deutschland," DIW Roundup: Politik im Fokus 82, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

    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. Carmen Camacho & Fabio Mariani & Luca Pensieroso, 2017. "Illegal immigration and the shadow economy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(6), pages 1050-1080, December.
    2. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Härtl, Klaus & Leite, Duarte Nuno & Ludwig, Alexander, 2018. "Endogenous Retirement Behavior of Heterogeneous Households Under Pension Reforms," MEA discussion paper series 201804, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    3. repec:diw:diwwpp:dp1679 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Muriel Dejemeppe & Catherine Smith & Bruno der Linden, 2015. "Did the Intergenerational Solidarity Pact increase the employment rate of older workers in Belgium? A macro-econometric evaluation," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-23, December.
    5. Börsch-Supan, A. & Härtl, K. & Leite, D.N., 2016. "Social Security and Public Insurance," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 781-863, Elsevier.
    6. Songül Tolan, 2015. "Die Flexibilisierung des Rentenübergangs in Deutschland," DIW Roundup: Politik im Fokus 82, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    7. Rebecca Schrader, 2021. "The causal effect of partial retirement on older workers’ labor force participation," Working Papers 215, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    8. Alejandra Cox Edwards & Estelle James, 2010. "Impact of Social Security Reform on Labor Force Participation Rates of Pensioners and Nonpensioners: Evidence from Chile," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(2), pages 130-172.
    9. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Bucher-Koenen, Tabea & Kluth, Sebastian & Haupt, Marlene & Goll, Nicolas, 2015. "Vor- und Nachteile höherer Flexibilität als Instrument zur Erhöhung der Beschäftigung Älterer," MEA discussion paper series 201506, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    10. Ulf Rinne & Klaus F Zimmermann, 2013. "Is Germany the North Star of Labor Market Policy?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 702-729, December.
    11. Arthur Van Soest & Arie Kapteyn & Julie Zissimopoulos, 2006. "Using Stated Preferences Data to Analyze Preferences for Full and Partial Retirement," Working Papers WR-345, RAND Corporation.
    12. Johann K. Brunner & Bernd Hoffmann, 2010. "Versicherungsmathematisch korrekte Pensionsabschläge," Economics working papers 2010-13, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    13. Courtney Coile & Jonathan Gruber, 2007. "Fiscal Effects of Social Security Reform in the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Fiscal Implications of Reform, pages 503-532, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Philippe Askenazy & Clément Brébion & Pierre Courtioux & Christine Erhel & Malo Mofakhami, 2023. "HRM Strategies in Response to the First Covid Lockdown: a Typology of French Workplaces," CEPN Working Papers hal-03953817, HAL.
    15. Boockmann, Bernhard & Fries, Jan & Göbel, Christian, 2018. "Specific measures for older employees and late career employment," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 159-174.
    16. Haan, Peter & Tolan, Songül, 2019. "Labor supply and fiscal effects of partial retirement – The role of entry age and the timing of pension benefits," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    17. William Even & David Macpherson, 2004. "Do Pensions Impede Phased Retirement?," Labor and Demography 0407001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Dieckhoff, Martina & Gash, Vanessa & Mertens, Antje & Romeu Gordo, Laura, 2016. "A stalled revolution? What can we learn from women’s drop-out to part-time jobs: A comparative analysis of Germany and the UK," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 46, pages 129-140.
    19. Pérez, Carlos & Martín-Román, Ángel & Moral, Alfonso, 2020. "Two decades of the complementary leisure effect in Spain," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    20. Bosch Gerhard & Weinkopf Claudia, 2015. "Verringerung von Lohnungleichheit durch staatliche Schutz- und Beteiligungsstandards. Schweden, Frankreich und Deutschland im Vergleich / Reduction of wage inequality by national protective and partic," Arbeit, De Gruyter, vol. 24(3-4), pages 195-214, September.
    21. Ammermueller, Andreas & Kuckulenz, Anja & Zwick, Thomas, 2009. "Aggregate unemployment decreases individual returns to education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 217-226, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:nbr:nberwo:21478. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    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.