Pension Reforms, Longer Working Horizons and Absence from Work

Giorgio Brunello, Maria De Paola () and Lorenzo Rocco

No 15871, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using matched employer-employee data for Italy and newly available information on sick leaves certificates, we study the effect of an exogenous increase in the length of the residual work horizon – triggered by a pension reform that increased minimum retirement age - on middle-aged employees' absence from work due to sick leaves. We find that this effect is positive for females and negative for males. After excluding health as a plausible mechanism, we argue that the intertemporal substitution of leisure prevailed on the fear of job loss for females, while the opposite happened to males. Sick leaves increased only for females working in firms paying smaller wage premia to female than to male workers, suggesting that, in these firms, females exchange lower pay with higher flexibility in their work schedule.

Keywords: absences from work; retirement; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2023-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-eur, nep-hea, nep-lma and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Journal of Population Economics, 2025, 38, 9 (2025)

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Journal Article: Pension reforms, longer working horizons, and absence from work (2025)
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