Labor Market Rigidities and the Employment Behavior of Older Workers

В статье рассматривается занятость лиц пожилого возраста в условиях сорвеменных технологических, медицинских и демографических изменений. Актуальность темы исследования обусловлена демографическим старением населения, современными достижениями медицины и изменением характера трудовых операций в результате научно-технического прогресса. В данной статье проверены следующие конкурирующие гипотезы: производительность работников старших возрастных групп находится ниже уровня рентабельности из-за неуклонного ухудшения здоровья или, наоборот, ценность работников старших возрастных групп на современном рынке труда возрастает из-за повышения роли опыта, навыков и квалификации. Дополнительно проанализирован вопрос влияния систем пенсионного обеспечения на мотивацию лиц пожилого возраста к продолжению трудовой деятельности. Для проверки данных гипотез на основе статистики Организации экономического сотрудничества и развития проведен анализ общего уровня занятости, участия в рабочей силе и безработицы, а также временной и неполной занятости по нескольким возрастным группам в диапазоне 15-65 лет и старше. Для оценки динамики проанализирована ситуация на 2000 и 2019 гг. В целом сделан вывод, что количественные и качественные параметры занятости у работников старших возрастных групп уступают среднему рабочему возрасту, однако во временной динамике использование человеческого капитала лиц пожилого возраста растет. В области геронтологии рекомендовано уделять повышенное внимание улучшению здоровья возрастной когорты 65 лет и старше и изменению трудового законодательства в плане стимулирования продолжения трудовой деятельности после официального наступления пенсионного возраста. The article examines the employment of older people in the context of disrupted technological, medical and demographic changes. The relevance of the research topic is due to the demographic aging of the population, modern medical advances and changes in the nature of labor operations as a result of scientific and technological progress. In this article, the following competing hypotheses are tested: the productivity of older workers is below the level of profitability due to a steady decline in health, or vice versa, the value of older workers in the modern labor market is increasing due to the increasing role of experience, skills and qualifications. Additionally, the question of the impact of pension systems on the motivation of older people to continue working is analyzed. To test these hypotheses, based on OECD statistics, we analyzed the overall level of employment, labor force participation and unemployment, as well as temporary and underemployment for several age groups in the range of 15-65+ years. To assess the dynamics, the situation for 2000 and 2019 was analyzed. In general, the author concludes that the quantitative and qualitative parameters of employment of older people are inferior to the average working age, but over time, the use of the human capital of older people is growing. In the field of gerontology, it is recommended to pay increased attention to improving the health of the 65+ age cohort and changing labor legislation in order to stimulate the continuation of work.

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Who Gets Their First Job at a Large Firm? The Distinct Roles of Education and Skills

AEA Papers and Proceedings ◽

10.1257/pandp.20211009 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 111 ◽

pp. 465-469

Author(s):

Jaime Arellano-Bover

Keyword(s):

Labor Market ◽

Older Workers ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Large Firm ◽

Early Years ◽

Young Workers ◽

Large Firms ◽

Formative Time ◽

East And Southeast Asia ◽

First Job

Young workers' early years in the labor market are a key and formative time. Using data from 31 countries, this article documents the selection of labor market entrants into large firms, which existing literature associates with propitious environments for young workers. The young and inexperienced are underrepresented at large firms compared to experienced and older workers. Entrants who do get their first job at large firms are positively selected in terms of education and cognitive skills. The patterns of large-firm selection (i.e., importance of education vs. skills) somewhat differ between Europe, East and Southeast Asia, and North America.

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Unemployment, Reemployment, and Health Insurance Status Among Older Workers in the Flexible Labor Market

Sociological Inquiry ◽

10.1111/soin.12126 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 86 (4) ◽

pp. 563-592

Author(s):

Stephen Lippmann ◽

J. Scott Brown

Keyword(s):

Labor Market ◽

Health Insurance ◽

Older Workers ◽

Insurance Status ◽

Health Insurance Status ◽

Flexible Labor

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Impacts of Labor Market Institutions and Demographic Factors on Labor Markets in Latin America

IMF Working Papers ◽

10.5089/9781484393840.001 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (155) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adriana Kugler

Keyword(s):

Labor Market ◽

Latin American ◽

Older Workers ◽

Market Performance ◽

Demographic Factors ◽

Employment Protection ◽

Labor Market Institutions ◽

Market Institutions ◽

Payroll Taxes ◽

The Impact

This paper documents recent labor market performance in the Latin American region. The paper shows that unemployment, informality, and inequality have been falling over the past two decades, though still remain high. By contrast, productivity has remained stubbornly low. The paper, then, turns to the potential impacts of various labor market institutions, including employment protection legislation (EPL), minimum wages (MW), payroll taxes, unemployment insurance (UI) and collective bargaining, as well as the impacts of demographic changes on labor market performance. The paper relies on evidence from carefully conducted studies based on micro-data for countries in the region and for other countries with similar income levels to draw conclusions on the impact of labor market institutions and demographic factors on unemployment, informality, inequality and productivity. The decreases in unemployment and informality can be partly explained by the reduced strictness of EPL and payroll taxes, but also by the increased shares of more educated and older workers. By contrast, the fall in inequality starting in 2002 can be explained by a combination of binding MW throughout most of the region and, to a lesser extent, by the introduction of UI systems in some countries and the role of unions in countries with moderate unionization rates. Falling inequality can also be explained by the fall in the returns to skill associated with increased share of more educated and older workers.

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Parents with an Unemployed Adult Child: Consumption, Income, and Savings Effects

IZA Journal of Labor Economics ◽

10.2478/izajole-2019-0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Kathryn Anne Edwards ◽

Jeffrey B. Wenger

Keyword(s):

Labor Market ◽

Older Workers ◽

Financial Support ◽

Risk Sharing ◽

Panel Study ◽

Adult Child ◽

Retirement Savings ◽

Parent Outcomes ◽

Labor Market Shocks ◽

Market Shocks

AbstractThe risk of labor market, health, and asset-value shocks comprise profound retirement savings challenges for older workers. Parents, however, may experience added risk if their children experience adverse labor market shocks. Prior research has shown that parents support their children financially through an unemployment spell. In this paper, we also provide evidence of financial support from parents and investigate if this financial support is accompanied by adjustments to parental consumption, income, or savings behavior. With longitudinal data on mothers and children from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we use within-mother variation in behavior to identify the effect of a child’s labor market shock on parent outcomes. We find evidence of a decline in consumption, an increase in labor supply, and a decrease retirement savings, though the results are heterogenous among mothers. Our results point to aggregate inefficiencies and inequities that may result from family risk sharing.

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Employment at 55+: Do We Want to work Longer in Lithuania?

Ekonomika ◽

10.15388/ekon.2020.1.3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 99 (1) ◽

pp. 50-68

Author(s):

Kristina Zitikytė

Keyword(s):

Labor Market ◽

Older People ◽

Older Workers ◽

Social Insurance ◽

People With Disabilities ◽

The Elderly ◽

Employment Rate ◽

Term Care ◽

Demographic Aging

The Lithuanian population is aging, and it causes many difficulties for public finances by increasing expenditures on health care, long-term care, and pensions, and also for the labor market by creating labor shortages. One of the ways to cope with demographic aging is to rise the employment rate of older people. According to Eurostat, the employment rate of the elderly aged 55–64 years increased from 49.6 percent in 2005 to 68.5 percent in 2018 in Lithuania and it is higher than the average employment rate of older workers in European Union, which was 58.7 percent in 2018. This paper focuses on older people in Lithuania, aged 55 and over, trying to answer a question whether the elderly in Lithuania willingly work or try to find alternatives such as receiving long-term social insurance benefits. The research findings show that the activity of older people in the labor market grows, and even the share of people with disabilities staying in the labor market increases. However, this analysis also shows that older people are more under risk to lose their job during an economic crisis, and this suggests that trying to find work alternatives can be closely related to one’s economic situation. Moreover, health problems remain one of the main factors limiting the activity of older people in the labor market. It is also noticeable that some labor force reserves exist among people with disabilities and this supposes that creating better adapted working conditions for older and disabled workers in Lithuania could probably contribute to meeting the needs of an aging workforce.

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