Graying and staying on the job: The welfare implications of employment protection for older workers

Todd Morris and Benoit Dostie

CIRANO Working Papers from CIRANO

Abstract: We study the welfare implications of employment protection for older workers, exploiting recent bans on mandatory retirement across Canadian provinces. Using linked employeremployee tax data, we show that the bans cause large and similar reductions in job separation rates and retirement hazards at age 65, with further reductions at higher ages. The effects vary substantially across industries and firms, and around two-fifths of the adjustments occur between ban announcement and implementation dates. We find no evidence that the demand for older workers falls, but the welfare effects are mediated by spillovers on savings behavior, workplace injuries, and spousal retirement timing. Nous étudions les répercussions de la protection de l’emploi sur le bien-être des travailleurs âgés, en exploitant les récentes interdictions de la retraite obligatoire dans les provinces canadiennes. À l’aide de données fiscales couplées sur les employés et les employeurs, nous montrons que les interdictions entraînent des réductions importantes et similaires aux taux de cessation d’emploi et des risques de retraite à l’âge de 65 ans, et d’autres réductions à des âges plus élevés. Les effets varient considérablement d’une industrie et d’une entreprise à l’autre, et environ les deux cinquièmes des ajustements surviennent entre l’annonce de l’interdiction et les dates de mise en œuvre. Nous ne trouvons aucune preuve que la demande de travailleurs âgés diminue, mais les effets sur le bien-être sont atténués par les retombées sur le comportement d’épargne, les blessures en milieu de travail et le moment où le conjoint prend sa retraite.

Keywords: employment protection; retirement; welfare; active and passive savings responses; health effects; spousal spillovers; protection de l’emploi; retraite; bien-être social; épargne active et passive; effets sur la santé; retombées pour le conjoint (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H55 J26 J78 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-09-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-ger, nep-lma and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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https://cirano.qc.ca/files/publications/2023s-20.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: Graying and Staying on the Job: The Welfare Implications of Employment Protection for Older Workers (2023)
Working Paper: Graying and staying on the job: The welfare implications of employment protection for older workers (2023)
Working Paper: Graying and staying on the job: The welfare implications of employment protection for older workers (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cir:cirwor:2023s-20

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