Work and Well-being in an Aging Society

Lars Osberg

Canadian Public Policy, 2005, vol. 31, issue 4, 413-420

Abstract: This paper argues that the well-being of all Canadians will be increased by policies that make it easier for individuals to smooth their labour supply more evenly over the life cycle. However, if working longer is to represent an improvement in individual well-being, it must be due to choice, not necessity. The past decade has seen a substantial increase in the lifetime risk exposure of Canadian workers. Since one must expect that this will increase the fraction of future cohorts who arrive at 65 without a private pension or appreciable retirement savings, welfare improving policies to even out labour supply over the life cycle should be complemented by reforms to Employment Insurance to help individuals even out income fluctuations during their working years.

Date: 2005
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3552360 (text/html)
only available to JSTOR subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpp:issued:v:31:y:2005:i:4:p:413-420

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.utpjournals.com/loi/cpp/

Access Statistics for this article

Canadian Public Policy is currently edited by Prof. Mike Veall

More articles in Canadian Public Policy from University of Toronto Press University of Toronto Press Journals Division 5201 Dufferin Street Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3H 5T8.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Iver Chong ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).