The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Tommy Bengtsson. Photo.

Tommy Bengtsson

Professor

Tommy Bengtsson. Photo.

Extending working life: experiences from Sweden, 1981–2011

Author

  • Haodong Qi
  • Kirk Scott
  • Tommy Bengtsson

Editor

  • Bernhard Hammer
  • Ronald Lee
  • Alexia Prskawetz
  • Miguel Sánchez-Romero

Summary, in English

Population ageing is making it increasingly diffcult for countries to sustain their current levels social welfare transfers from the economically active population to the dependent elderly. To meet this challenge, the Swedish government has implemented various reforms since the 1990s aimed at reducing incentives to take early retirement. However, a critical question has emerged in response to these reforms: namely, whether members of certain socially and demographically disadvantaged groups will, in practice, be able to work longer. This paper provides a detailed overview of retirement trends in Sweden, disaggregated by educational attainment, health status, and country of birth. Our results show that the growth pattern in the average effective retirement age since the mid-1990s was shared by individuals regardless of their educational level, health status, or country of birth. This shared growth pattern suggests that it is possible to extend the working lives of all groups of individuals, regardless of their socio-economic and demographic characteristics.

Department/s

  • Department of Economic History
  • Centre for Economic Demography
  • eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration
  • EpiHealth: Epidemiology for Health

Publishing year

2019-12-18

Language

English

Pages

99-120

Publication/Series

Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2019 : Population Ageing and Intergenerational Redistribution

Volume

17

Document type

Book chapter

Publisher

Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

Topic

  • Economic History

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 978-3-7001-8562-8
  • ISBN: 978-3-7001-8491-1