The extension of late working life in Germany: trends, inequalities, and the East-West divide

Christian Dudel, Elke Loichinger, Sebastian Klüsener, Harun Sulak and Mikko Myrskylä
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Christian Dudel: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Elke Loichinger: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Sebastian Klüsener: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Mikko Myrskylä: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

No WP-2021-018, MPIDR Working Papers from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

Abstract: The extension of late working life has been proposed as a potential remedy for the challenges of aging societies. For Germany, surprisingly little is known about trends and social inequalities in the length of late working life. Here, we use data from the German Microcensus to estimate working life expectancy from age 55 onwards for the 1941-1955 birth cohorts. We adjust our calculations of working life expectancy for working hours, and present results for western and eastern Germany by gender, education, and occupation. While working life expectancy has increased across cohorts, we find strong regional and socioeconomic disparities. Decomposition analyses show that among males, socioeconomic differences are predominantly driven by variation in employment rates; whereas among women, variation in working hours is also highly relevant. Older eastern German women have longer working lives than older western German women, which is likely attributable to the GDR legacy of high female employment.

JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-dem, nep-eur, nep-his and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2021-018

DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2021-018

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