Impacts of the Availability of Old-Age Benefits on Exits from the Labour Market

Different social security schemes affect men and women differently. This article compares the family or single earner model with the individual or dual earner model and examines their impact on gender inequality. However, even where social security schemes are designed to be gender neutral, when applied in a context that is systematically structured by gender, it points out that they will have a different impact on men and women. The article examines the ways in which supposedly gender-neutral rules, in sickness benefit, survivors' pensions and old age pensions have affected men and women in Sweden and concludes that, if countries wish to achieve equal economic outcomes for men and women, they will need to introduce measures to equalise men's and women's commitments to the home and the labour market, and to enable women to attain higher-paid jobs on the same basis as men.

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Introduction: Framing Economic Exclusion

International Perspectives on Aging - Social Exclusion in Later Life ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-51406-8_2 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 25-30

Author(s):

Jim Ogg ◽

Michal Myck

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

Old Age ◽

Working Life ◽

Economic Consequences ◽

Policy Makers ◽

The Past ◽

Economic Exclusion ◽

The Face ◽

Older Citizens ◽

Multidimensional Concept

AbstractEconomic exclusion is a multidimensional concept that has particular relevance in the context of ageing populations and globalised economies. Sustaining adequate incomes in old age and protecting older citizens from poverty are major challenges for governments and policy makers and they have been amplified in the face of the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past few decades most countries have made adjustments to their pension systems and other welfare related policies that concern older citizens, and these reforms have already had and will continue to have a differential impact on economic exclusion. For some, extending the working life and pushing back the legal age of retirement can be a safeguard against inadequate incomes in old age, while for others who are excluded from the labour market, or who are working in low paid jobs, economic exclusion remains a reality. The labour market implications of the pandemic are likely to exacerbate this risk for those whose situation was already fragile before the crisis.

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Changing expectations of care among older Tibetans living in India and Switzerland

Ageing and Society ◽

10.1017/s0144686x10000085 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 30 (5) ◽

pp. 879-896 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

TENZIN WANGMO

Keyword(s):

Old Age ◽

Financial Support ◽

Filial Piety ◽

Intergenerational Relationships ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Cultural Continuity ◽

Developed Country ◽

Comparison Groups ◽

Western Values ◽

Old Age Benefits

ABSTRACTUsing interview data from 30 Tibetan elders living in India and Switzerland, the paper explores the support they received, their perception of intergenerational relationships, and their acceptance of different levels of intergenerational exchange. All of the sample had aged in either India or Switzerland and so provide excellent comparison groups, from respectively a developing and a developed country, by which to study changing filial piety with time, context and socio-economic conditions. With limited resources in old age, most of the participants in India needed financial support. Among them, parents with many children and children in developed countries received better financial support and collective care than those with one child or all children living in India. In contrast, the participants in Switzerland were entitled to state old-age benefits, and so required mainly affirmation and emotional support. A consequence of living in a developed nation was dissatisfaction when the children adopted western values and the family's cultural continuity was threatened. The findings support two recommendations: in developing countries, the provision of old-age benefits to ensure a minimum level of financial security and independence among older adults; and in developed countries, the promotion of a mutual understanding of filial piety among different generations of older refugees and immigrants to help ameliorate intergenerational differences.

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Reconstructing dependency: precarity, precariousness and care in old age

Precarity and Ageing ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447340850.003.0008 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 169-190

Author(s):

Michael Fine

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

Old Age ◽

The Other ◽

Financial Fragility ◽

Physical Ageing ◽

Care Provision ◽

Critical Approach ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

The One ◽

Conditions Of Work

This chapter explores the potential for the development of critical approach to care based on the concepts of precarity and precariousness. Applying those concepts at the level of both theory and analysis, it is argued, serves to draw attention to both the socially constructed uncertainties of care provision conditioned by the labour market and corporate practices on the one hand, and the uncertainties of physical ageing and the ontological vulnerabilities that arise from our bodily existence on the other. Uncertainty also confronts those who provide care in either a paid or unpaid/informal capacity. The precarious conditions of work reflect the financial fragility of the economic supports and the changing and unequal markets that increasingly underpin the way care is provided to the increasing numbers of people who live extended lives today.

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Thinking about the Production and Consumption of Long-term Care in Britain: Does Gender Still Matter?

Journal of Social Policy ◽

10.1017/s0047279400006061 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 623-643 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

CLARE UNGERSON

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

Old Age ◽

Long Term Care ◽

Elderly Women ◽

Term Care ◽

Mixed Economy ◽

Economic Relations ◽

Production And Consumption ◽

The Impact

This article suggests that the literature on care, which originally was heavily influenced by a gendered perspective, has now taken on other important variables. However, it is argued that if we look at the particular impact of the marketisation and privatisation of long-term care, we can see that gender is still a useful perspective on the production of care, especially paid care. The reordering of the delivery of domiciliary care within the ‘mixed economy of welfare’ is having important effects on the labour market for care and is likely to lead to further inequalities between women, both now and in old age. The article proceeds to look at the impact of these inequalities on the consumption of care in old age, particularly by elderly women and considers factors that may provide women with the resources to purchase care and/or pay charges for care. The article argues that gender does still matter, but that its impact has to be understood within a context of growing inequalities between women, and an analysis that takes account of wider social and economic relations within kin networks and between generations.

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The Netherlands: Reconciling Labour Market Flexicurity with Security in Old Age

Labour Market Flexibility and Pension Reforms ◽

10.1057/9780230307605_8 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 203-230 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Karen M. Anderson

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Labour Market ◽

Old Age

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Job demands & control among employees in Sweden aged 55-64 and labour market status 11 years later

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckz187.113 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽

Author(s):

K Farrants ◽

K Alexanderson

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

Old Age ◽

Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽

Job Demands ◽

Job Control ◽

Paid Work ◽

Market Status ◽

High Control ◽

Labour Market Status

Abstract Background As discussions about extending working lives are ongoing, more knowledge is warranted on how psychosocial working conditions are associated with labour market status in older age. Aim Among employees aged 55-64 years, explore associations between job demands/control with their labour market status 11 years later, using a job exposure matrix (JEM). Methods A population-based prospective cohort study using nationwide register data. All 616,818 individuals in Sweden who in 2001 were in paid work and aged 55-64, were categorized using JEM into 9 groups, based on tertiles. They were followed up in 2012 regarding their labour market status (main income from: paid work, old-age pension, marginalised (no income/social assistance), sickness absence >183 net days, emigrated, dead) using multinomial logistic regression for odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), controlling for labour market status and sociodemographics in 2001. Analyses were stratified by sex. Results The majority (women: 84.9%, men: 80.3%) had main income from old-age pension at the 11-year follow-up; 4.7% from paid work (women: 3.9%, men: 5.6%). Those initially in jobs with high demands were less likely to be marginalised at follow-up (OR women high demands/medium control 0.51, CI 0.38-0.68, high demands/high control 0.68, CI 0.50-0.92; OR men high demands/medium control 0.55, CI 0.31-0.96, high demands/high control 0.47, CI 0.30-0.73). Those in occupations with low demands were less likely to be in paid work (OR women low demands/low control 0.56, CI 0.51-0.62, low demands/medium control 0.63, CI 0.58-0.69; OR men low demands/low control 0.56, CI 0.51-0.63, low demands/medium control 0.63, CI 0.58-0.69). Conclusions High job demands with high job control among people aged 55-64 in 2001 were associated with higher rate and OR of having main income from paid work in 2012, and high job demands regardless of level of job control were associated with less marginalisation. Key messages Levels of job demands when aged 55-64 were associated with labour market status 11 years later for women and men, while levels of job control were less so. High job demands were associated with a higher likelihood of being in paid work and lower likelihood of being marginalised at the end of follow-up.

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Has Social Security Policy Converged? Cross-Country Evolution of Old Age Benefits, 1890–2000

The Journal of Economic History ◽

10.1017/s0022050712000642 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 72 (4) ◽

pp. 927-955 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alexander Elu-Terán

Keyword(s):

Old Age ◽

Security Policy ◽

Social Insurance ◽

Welfare States ◽

Pension Policy ◽

Long Run ◽

Key Drivers ◽

Cross Country ◽

Social Security Policy ◽

Old Age Benefits

The extension of social insurance during the twentieth century did not translate into homogeneous pension provision. Using a new database, this article analyzes the evolution of pensions in the long run for a sample of welfare states. The convergence in old age benefits as a share of earnings is only found for all earnings levels between 1970 and 1990. The results also underline the role as determinants of pension policy of both domestic and external factors. In line with previous literature, income per capita and the share of old people are key drivers of pensions. However, the effect of globalization is negative, especially for low and medium earnings levels.

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