 Financial fragility, financial literacy and the early withdrawal of retirement savings during COVID-19Alison Preston ()
Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), 2022, vol. 25, issue 2, 127-147 Abstract: Using micro-data from the 2020 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey for a large nationally representative sample of adults aged 18-64, this paper examines the factors associated with the early withdrawal of retirement savings as a result of the coronavirus. Logistic regressions show that early withdrawal behaviour was in response to financial needs with the likelihood of making a withdrawal higher amongst the young, those classified as financially fragile, precariously employed, the unemployed, lone parents with dependent children, persons experiencing poor health and those with poor financial literacy. The results raise questions about the design of early release schemes and the objectives of the Australian retirement income system, including equity outcomes in retirement. Policy suggestions are discussed, including a call for suitable data for monitoring purposes. The latter is important if the long-term equity effects of COVID-19 related to early withdrawals are to be properly understood. Keywords: pension savings; superannuation; financial literacy; financial fragility; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ozl:journl:v:25:y:2022:i:2:p:127-147 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE) from Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.