Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire?

Andrea Ichino, Guido Schwerdt, Rudolf Winter-Ebmer and Andrea Ichino
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Andrea Ichino and Josef Zweimüller ()

No 2013-13, Economics working papers from Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria

Abstract: We study whether employment prospects of old and young workers differ after a plant closure. Using Austrian administrative data, we show that old and young workers face similar displacement costs in terms of employment in the long-run, but old workers lose considerably more initially and gain later. We interpret these findings using a search model with retirement as an absorbing state, that we calibrate to match the observed patterns. Our finding is that the dynamics of relative employment losses of old versus young workers after a displacement are mainly explained by different opportunities of transition into retirement. In contrast, differences in layoff rates and job offer arrival rates cannot explain these patterns. Our results support the idea that retirement incentives, more than weak labor demand, are responsible for the low employment rates of older workers.

Keywords: Aging; Employability; Plant Closures; Matching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J14 J65 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2013-08
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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http://www.econ.jku.at/papers/2013/wp1313.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Too old to work, too young to retire? (2017)
Working Paper: Too Old To Work, Too Young To Retire? (2014)
Working Paper: Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire? (2013)
Working Paper: Too Old to Work, too Young to Retire? (2007)
Working Paper: Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire? (2007)
Working Paper: Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire? (2007)
Working Paper: Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire? (2007)
Working Paper: Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire? (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jku:econwp:2013_13

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