Compression of morbidity and the labor supply of older people

"This paper tests whether there is evidence of compression of morbidity using data from the American Health and Retirement Study and analyzes the effects of this on the labor supply of older people. We find younger cohorts to suffer less from functional problems than older cohorts at given ages. Furthermore, we observe that instrumentalized disability has a negative effect on labor force participation. According to the cohort analysis and the multivariate analysis, it can be concluded that individuals will be able to work longer because of the delay in the onset of disability problems." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Lebenserwartung, ältere Menschen, alte Menschen, Gesundheitszustand, Krankheit, chronische Krankheit, Behinderung, Erwerbsbeteiligung, Lebensarbeitszeit, USA

Are fixed-term jobs bad for your health? : a comparison of West-Germany and Spain

"In this paper we analyse the health effects of fixed-term contract status for men and women in West-Germany and Spain using panel data. This paper asks whether changes in the employment relationship, as a result of the liberalisation of employment law, have altered the positive health effects associated with employment (Goldsmith et al. 1996; Jahoda 1982). Using information on switches between unemployment and employment by contract type we analyze whether transitions to different contracts have different health effects. We find that unemployed workers show positive health effects at job acquisition, and also find the positive effect to be smaller for workers who obtain a fixed-term job. We also establish surprising differences by gender and country, with women less likely to report positive health effects at job acquisition. For West-Germany, this was found to be a function of the dual-burden of paid and unpaid care within the home." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))befristeter Arbeitsvertrag - Auswirkungen, Gesundheitszustand - internationaler Vergleich, Arbeitnehmer, geschlechtsspezifische Faktoren, Arbeitslose, Sozioökonomisches Panel, Europäisches Haushaltspanel, psychische Faktoren, Unsicherheit, Westdeutschland, Spanien, Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Women between Part-Time and Full-Time Work: The Influence of Changing Hours of Work on Happiness and Life-Satisfaction

This paper asks whether part-time work makes women happy. Previous research on labour supply has assumed that as workers freely choose their optimal working hours on the basis of their innate preferences and the hourly wage rate, outcome reflects preference. This paper tests this assumption by measuring the impact of changes in working-hours on life satisfaction in two countries (the UK and Germany using the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey). We find decreases in working-hours bring about positive and significant improvement on well-being for women.Temporary Employment, Unemployment, Health

Creating employment or keeping them busy: an evaluation of training programs for older workers in Germany

"We analyze the effect of participation in short-term training measures on older German recipients of means-tested unemployment benefits. Our analysis uses administrative data of the German Federal Employment Agency and we estimate the effects of participating in two types of short-term training - classroom and in-firm training - on different outcomes of the participants. Our results show that classroom training is not effective in making participants independent of benefit receipt. It has a moderately positive effect on employment outcomes, which are highest for West German men. In contrast, in-firm training significantly raises the participants' likelihood of finding regular jobs and of being independent of unemployment benefit receipt." (author's abstract

SOEP as a Source for Research on Ageing: Issues, Measures and Possibilities for Improvement

Demographic change is a key consequence of the development of modern societies. The prolongation of life expectancy, shifts of mortality into later life and long-term low fertility rates cause essential changes in population structures - with an increase in the number and proportion of older people as a key feature. The changes in mortality patterns can be seen as a success of modern society. But demographic shifts imply new risks and challenges as well as opportunities for modern societies, as they affect individual life courses as well as societies as a whole. The present low birth rates also predict low birth numbers in the future, since the number of potential mothers decreases. At the same time, life expectancies are not expected to decrease. As a consequence, the relation between old and young people will change in Germany in the next decades. In 2050, just about half of the population will be of working age and more than 30 percent will be 65 years old or older. The number of the 20 to under 65-years-olds will decrease from 50 million to a figure between 35 and 39 million in the next 40 years (Federal Statistical Office, 2006). Furthermore, the working age population will undergo an ageing process, implying that in 2050, nearly 40 percent of the working-age population will be between 50 and 64 years old (Federal Statistical Office, 2006). In order to understand the labour market and the fiscal implications of these population trends, it is very illustrative to analyse the proportion of older individuals in relation to the working population, the so-called old-age dependency ratio. According to the Federal Statistical Office (2006) the old-age dependency ratio will grow from 32 percent in 2005 to 60 or 64 percent by 2050. This projection indicates that in 40 years, for every three persons of working-age in Germany there will be two persons receiving a pension. If we consider the age cut at 67, the results are not much more optimistic, indicating that increasing the legal retirement age alone is not a solution for the sustainability of the public pension systems and for the decrease in the labour force. The proportion of people of very old age is also growing. While the 80+ population was nearly 4 million in 2005, it will grow to 10 million by 2050 (Federal Statistical Office, 2006). This trend has inter alia, important consequences for health care provision. In this demographic context, interdisciplinary research of ageing and later life gains in relevance. Thus, research on ageing becomes an increasingly crucial task for major surveys like the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). As part of the "research infrastructure" they are called upon to invest in its potentials and attractiveness for research on ageing and later life.

Are fixed-term jobs bad for your health? A comparison of West-Germany and Spain

"In this paper we analyse the health effects of fixed-term contract status for men and women in West-Germany and Spain using panel data. This paper asks whether changes in the employment relationship, as a result of the liberalisation of employment law, have altered the positive health effects associated with employment (Goldsmith et al. 1996; Jahoda 1982). Using information on switches between unemployment and employment by contract type we analyze whether transitions to different contracts have different health effects. We find that unemployed workers show positive health effects at job acquisition, and also find the positive effect to be smaller for workers who obtain a fixed-term job. We also establish surprising differences by gender and country, with women less likely to report positive health effects at job acquisition. For West-Germany, this was found to be a function of the dual-burden of paid and unpaid care within the home." (author's abstract)Der Beitrag analysiert die gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen befristeter Arbeitsverträge für Männer und Frauen in Westdeutschland und Spanien auf der Basis eines repräsentativen Datenpanels. Die Frage lautet, ob der Wandel der Beschäftigungsverhältnisse als Folge einer Liberalisierung der Arbeitsgesetzgebung Veränderungen der positiven gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen, die von einem Arbeitsverhältnis ausgehen (Goldsmith et al. 1996; Jahoda 1982) bewirken. Unter Nutzung von Informationen über Wechsel zwischen Arbeitslosigkeit und Beschäftigungsverhältnis je nach Art des Arbeitsvertrages wird analysiert, ob der Übergang in unterschiedliche Vertragsverhältnisse auch unterschiedliche gesundheitliche Auswirkungen hat. Es zeigt sich, dass für arbeitslose Arbeiter die Arbeitsaufnahme positive gesundheitliche Auswirkungen hat, sich dieser Effekt aber bei Arbeitern, die einen befristeten Job annehmen, verringert. Hinzukommen überraschende Unterschiede nach Geschlecht und Land, wobei Frauen in der Regel weniger über positive gesundheitliche Auswirkungen einer Arbeitsaufnahme berichten. Dieses Ergebnis fand für Westdeutschland seine Erklärung als Folge der Doppelbelastung von bezahlter Arbeit und unbezahlter Betreuungsarbeit im Haushalt. (IAB

Gender differences in the determinants of mature entrepreneurship? The case of Germany

Mature female entrepreneurs represent a non-traditional model of self-employed workers in both ways: in terms of gender and age. The transition into self-employment for women aged 45 years and older represents a topic of aging research that still tends to be overlooked. Previous studies found ambivalent results for the issue regarding motives and entrepreneurial pathways between former employmen or unemployment–and starting one's own business and the ways in which these entrepreneurial activities are shaped by social differences (such as gender) and biographically accumulated resources and restrictions. This article studies biographical-related factors and motivations that determine what is variously referred to as mature entrepreneurship for men and women aged 45 and above. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), the descriptive analysis explains the main gender differences among people within the target age group who have taken the step into self-employment. The multivariate analysis interrogates the main determinants that govern any increase in the probability of becoming self-employed after the age of 45 and seeks to identify the main differences between women and men in relation to such determinants. The results show substantial gender-based occupational segregation in entrepreneurship patterns in this age group, with men working longer hours on average than women and enjoying higher average earnings. However, the multivariate analysis shows that the main drivers for mature entrepreneurship are similar for both men and women and that necessity represents an important factor for everyone for starting a business

Effects of the Covid-19 Crisis on the work situations of people in middle and older working age

This chapter examines the extent to which employed people in their mid-40s and older were affected by various changes to their work situation in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Of particular interest is whether older workers aged 55 and over were affected to the same extent as middle-aged workers, and whether there were gender differences