Retirement; Unemployment; Well-being; Labour market inactivity; Transition
Abstract :
[en] This paper examines the extent to which well-being levels change in the transition to retirement depending on transitioning from being employed, unemployed, or economically inactive. Whereas transitioning from employment to unemployment has been found to cause an increase in depressive symptoms or decline in life satisfaction with more time spent in unemployment, it is not clear to which extent transitioning from unemployment to retirement affects well-being levels compared to retiring after being employed or economically inactive. We use two waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe monitoring respondents transitioning to retirement and use life satisfaction as well-being measure. The effect of the transition is captured with a difference-in-difference like approach to test if the change in well-being after retirement is different for persons who were formerly unemployed or inactive, respectively, compared to formerly employed retirees. Results indicate that retiring from unemployment is associated with an increase in life satisfaction, but presents mainly a catching-up effect compared to employed persons transitioning to retirement. Retirement from labour market inactivity, especially sick leave, does not lead to significant changes in well-being. Findings are robust to selection into unemployment and country differences. As well-being of unemployed persons recovers after transitioning to retirement, especially the currently unemployed population should be supported to prevent detrimental consequences of economically unfavourable conditions and lower well-being.
Research center :
- Integrative Research Unit: Social and Individual Development (INSIDE) > PEARL Institute for Research on Socio-Economic Inequality (IRSEI)
Disciplines :
Sociology & social sciences
Author, co-author :
Ponomarenko, Valentina ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Integrative Research Unit: Social and Individual Development (INSIDE)
Leist, Anja ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Integrative Research Unit: Social and Individual Development (INSIDE)
Chauvel, Louis ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Integrative Research Unit: Social and Individual Development (INSIDE)
Language :
English
Title :
Increases in well-being after transition to retirement for unemployed. Catching up with formerly employed persons.