Long-Term Effects of Extended Unemployment Benefits for Older Workers

Tomi Kyyrä and Hanna Onerva Pesola ()
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Hanna Onerva Pesola: VATT Institute for Economic Reserach, Helsinki

No 10839, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper examines the long-term effects of extended unemployment benefits that older unemployed can collect until retirement in Finland. We consider a reform that increased the age threshold of this scheme from 55 to 57 for people born in 1950 or later. Our regression discontinuity estimates show that postponing eligibility by two years increased employment over the remaining working career by seven months. Despite the corresponding reduction in unemployment, we find no evidence of significant effects on mortality or receipt of disability and sickness benefits, nor on the spouse's labor supply. We also compute the fiscal impact of the reform taking into account income taxes and social security contributions paid and benefits received. The reform increased net income transfers by 15,000 Euros over the 10-year period for an average individual.

Keywords: early retirement; unemployment insurance; layoffs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J26 J63 J64 J65 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2017-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-eur, nep-his and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Labour Economics, 2020, 62, 101777

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Related works:
Journal Article: Long-term effects of extended unemployment benefits for older workers (2020)
Working Paper: Long-term effects of extended unemployment benefits for older workers (2017)
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