Demographic Dividend,Population Aging and Raising the Retirement Age

China’s low fertility combined with increase in average life expectancy is leading to disappearing demographic dividend and population aging crisis. In this case, we may have a policy choice to raise the retirement age. Because the disappearing of demographic dividend gradually and the reversal of labor supply and demand may be the driving force of raising the retirement age, and the payment crisis of pension system which caused by the population aging may be the pulling force of raising the retirement age. If we consider the impact of this policy on urban employment and the laborheterogeneity in current conditions, we should carry out the practical policy which raise the retirement age slowly progressive and gradually.     

Retirement against the demographic trend: More older people living longer, working less, and saving less?

The American population is aging rapidly and individuals are living longer. Yet Americans are saving less and older workers are leaving the labor force at younger and younger ages. The accelerated drop in labor force participation corresponds roughly to the introduction of Social Security and the adaption of employer-provided pension plans. I have illustrated that Social Security and employer-provided pension plans provide substantial incentive to leave the labor force early. The quantitative effect of this inducement is illustrated by simulating the effects of changes in pension plan and Social Security provisions on the retirement decisions of employees in a large firm, who are covered by a typical defined benefit pension plan. Scheduled Social Security changes would have little effect on the retirement decisions of employees with a typical defined benefit pension plan like the one considered here. But if the pension plan provisions were changed to correspond to the Social Security changes, the effect would be very large. And, although not contemplated by current legislation, it is clear that an increase in the Social Security early retirement age would have a substantial effect on the early retirement rates of the large number of employees not covered by a pension plan.     

延迟退休的影响效果分析

近年来．延迟退休的问题引发了学术界和社会大众的广泛讨论。本文将研究视点放在提高退休年龄对养老金支付和劳动力就业的影响效果方面。通过构建不同的计量模型,实际估算了延迟退休对养老保险基金收支变化的影响．以及对劳动力市场的就业挤出效应。结果发现：提高法定退休年龄对养老金缺口存在一定的补偿效应。但从短期来看效果有限;而对就业总量的确将产生挤出效应。并发现,老年人就业岗位与青年人就业岗位之间存在替代性,也就是说延迟退休将严重影响青年人的就业。因此建议政府要慎重考虑并只能在适当的时机推动延迟退休。     

Demographic trends and the pension system in Poland--a model approach

This "article presents the results of projections of the population of Poland by age, sex and marital status till 2050 under different scenarios of fertility, mortality and nuptiality. These results are used for the analysis of future pension expenditures, the number of retirees, the labour force, and the relation between contributions and benefits. Past demographic trends and the development of social security in the post-war period in Poland are discussed as well."     

Economic development and labor force participation of older persons

The effect of economic development on labor force participation rates of older men and women is examined using national data for 134 countries. The analysis provides new insights into the evolution of retirement patterns with rising personal income, slowing population growth, the aging of the population, and shifts in the composition of employment. The analysis indicates a negative relationship between per capita income and labor force participation rates. This relationship is stronger for older men than for older women and is most apparent among middle income countries. An older population is associated with lower participation rates for older men and higher widow rates produce higher participation rates among older women. Industrial changes such as a decline in the proportion of the labor force employed in agriculture lower the proportion of older persons in the labor force. Finally, national social security policies are shown to impact the proportion of older persons that remains in the labor force.     

我国退休年龄延迟设计研究

本文针对当前我国＂未富先老＂、人口红利对经济增长的促进作用减弱及因人口老龄化进程加速而引起的社会养老负担过重等问题,依据人均预期寿命、劳动者参加工作的初始年龄和不同类型劳动对人体体力要求的差异等,就从事不同类型劳动的退休年龄标准进行了延迟设计。然后以国际上自我养老负担系数的合理取值范围为标准,就延迟设计方案的自我养老负担系数进行了测算。结果表明：延迟设计方案的退休年龄标准在当前及未来较短时期比较适合我国国情。但随着人均预期寿命的增长,也要结合自我养老负担系数的合理取值范围对退休年龄逐步调整,才能有效解决我国因人口老龄化逐步加深而引起的各种社会经济问题。本文试图为我国调整退休年龄标准提出可供借鉴的依据,进而有效地解决我国因人口老龄化逐步加深而对社会经济发展造成的负面影响。     

The Retirement Life Course in America at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century

As the baby boom cohorts expand the number of U.S. retirees, population estimates of the employment, withdrawal and reentry behaviors of older Americans’ remain scarce. How long do people work? How frequently is retirement reversed? How many years are people retired? What is the modal age of retirement? And, how do the patterns for women compare to those for men? Using the 1992–2004 Health and Retirement Study, we estimate multistate working life tables to update information on the age-graded regularities of the retirement life course of men and women in the United States. We find that at age 50 men can expect to spend half of their remaining lives working for pay, while women can expect to spend just one-third. Half of all men and women have left the labor force by ages 63 and 61, respectively. Although the majority of retirement exits are final, variation in the nature and duration of the retirement process is substantial, as about a third of men’s and women’s exits are reversed. By quantifying these patterns for men and women, we provide a sound empirical basis for evaluating policy designed to address the financial pressures population aging places on public and private pension systems.     

Demographic change, endogenous labor supply and the political feasibility of pension reform

Options for reforming unfunded public pension schemes that are now being discussed all share the feature that the burden induced by demographic change would be shifted towards presently living and away from unborn generations. Existing models of the political economy of pension reform can not explain why such reform options are being discussed at all. We present an alternative model in which the possibility of evasion of workers from payment of social security taxes is taken into account by modelling a labor supply function. It turns out that the burden of demographic change may fall completely or at least predominantly on the pensioners. Thus this type of model can much better explain recent trends in legislature on unfunded public pension systems in industrial democracies. Received: 7 January 1999/Accepted: 20 December 1999     

Welfare Regimes for Aging Populations: No Single Path for Reform

We consider recent trends in pension policies in OECD countries in light of demographic aging associated with welfare regime type (Liberal, Social Democratic, Continental, and Southern European). These regime types represent different responsibilities assumed for social security on the part of the market, the state, and the family. While there are significant differences in labor market characteristics, the demographic similarities in aging bring similar pressures for pension reforms across OECD countries. These reforms address fiscal issues in state pensions, typically by increasing the length of the working life, placing more of the pension responsibility on individuals, or converting to defined‐contribution approaches. Our study shows that there is no single path for pension reform. While there are some variations, welfare states tend to follow their traditional paths, which differ across welfare regime types.     

退休年龄对劳动参与率的影响

自1951年以来。中国的退休政策并未随着平均寿命、经济发展等情况的变化做出大的改变。每年有成千上万的老年劳动者,在其仍有劳动意愿和劳动能力的情况下,因为政策的规定离开工作岗位。过低的退休年龄使得我国的劳动参与率被潜在的低估,如果调整现行退休政策,将修正劳动参与率、减少“人口负债”期问题、缓解未来养老金收支失衡压力和挤压劳动力市场。     

Gender differences in retirement decisions in Hong Kong

The study of labor force participation at older ages and the process of retirement do not have a long tradition in Asia's newly developed societies. This study, based on telephone survey of 950 respondents, examines various socio-economic factors that would influence retirement decision among older workers in Hong Kong. The findings show that older men were more likely to participate in the labor force than older women. Interestingly, older workers, in particular older women, with pension were less likely to retire. Having a working spouse decreased the likelihood of retirement and older workers, in particular older women, living with married children were more likely to retire. Poor health also discourages the propensity to continue working at old age. These findings confirm that retirement entails much more than just a decision to stop work, and that there were gender differences in retirement decision. Finally, several policy challenges, with reference to elderly women, concerning older workers' labor force participation were discussed.     

The Future Labor Force of an Aging Taiwan: The Importance of Education and Female Labor Supply

This study uses multi-state cohort component projections and detailed vital statistics data to project the future Taiwanese population by age, sex, and education up to 2050. These are the first education-specific population projections for Taiwan, and they reveal how young highly educated cohorts during the next decades will replace older cohorts with lower levels of educational attainment. The results of the population projections enter our estimation of the future composition of the Taiwanese labor force. Incorporating education as an extra dimension in labor force projections allows us to make inferences about the quality of future labor supply in a rapidly aging Taiwan and the leverage of expanding economic activity across the life course, particularly of women. At present, women’s economic activity above age 25 in Taiwan is significantly lower than men’s and also much lower than women's in Western developed nations. Some of the expected adverse economic consequences of population aging can likely be alleviated by having a more educated and consequently more productive labor force. The overall results and conclusions of our study, though based on the Taiwanese context, apply to other Asian economies with rapidly aging populations and currently comparatively low levels of female labor force participation as well.     

Present and forecasted demographic problems in Poland to the year 2010

The author describes potential future demographic trends in Poland, with attention to economic conditions, the labor force, demographic aging, family allowances, excess mortality, population size, and age distribution.     

Grandparental availability for child care and maternal labor force participation: pension reform evidence from Italy

In this paper, we exploit pension reform-induced changes in retirement eligibility requirements to assess the role of grandparental childcare availability in the labor force participation of women with children under 15. Our analysis shows that, among the women studied, those whose own mothers are retirement eligible have a 11% higher probability of being in the labor force than those whose mothers are ineligible. The pension eligibility of maternal grandfathers and paternal grandparents, however, has no significant effect on the women’s labor force participation. We also demonstrate that the eligibility of maternal grandmothers mainly captures the effect of their availability for childcare. Hence, pension reforms, by potentially robbing households of an important source of flexible, low-cost childcare, could have unintended negative consequences for the employment rates of women with young children.     

Projecting labour force supply and demand (current experiences of Central Statistical Office of Poland)

The author presents recent projections of the labor force in Poland. Aspects considered include the reliability of both supply and demand projections; trends for urban and rural areas; the aging of the labor force; public and private sector employment prospects; occupations; and government opinion.     

Individual mobility,population growth and labor force participation

Trends in labor force participation rates and the age of retirement are shown to be important determinants of upward mobility. Reductions in age specific participation rates increase the speed of movement through the employment hierarchy. In conjunction with economic development, the falling labor force participation of older men acts to offset the adverse effects of slowing population growth on promotional prospects. These conclusions are reached by extending a model of employment status developed by Keyfitz to limit employment competition to only those actually in the labor force.     

退休年龄与养老金支付

退休年龄由各国各地人口的平均寿命以及劳动力供求状况所决定 ,它对养老金的支付有重要影响作用。在人口老龄化日益加剧、劳动力供应日益困难的当今社会 ,不少国家和地区都做出了推迟退休年龄以维持养老基金平衡的政策选择。中国城镇职工退休年龄是几十年前规定的 ,在人口平均寿命不断增长、养老保险制度日益成熟的今天 ,也存在着推迟退休年龄的社会需求和可能条件。文章通过对养老保险制度赡养率、被动率的分析 ,提出了按男女有别、分步到位的原则推迟职工退休年龄的政策建议 ,文章还就一些地区大批办理职工提前退休的做法对养老金支付造成的压力进行了分析     

Replacement Migration: A Questionable Tactic for Delaying the Inevitable Effects of Fertility Transition

This article critiques a recent U.N. Population Division report, Replacement Migration: Is it a Solution to Declining and Ageing Populations? The report explores the use of increased immigration to bolster future population size and change age distribution patterns in a group of developed countries. Fertility rate declines and lengthening life expectancies associated with demographic transition inevitably yield an aging population and a falling potential support ratio (PSR), a situation which some demographers and economists view with alarm. As the U.N. report itself suggests, replacement migration can only temporarily delay population aging and decline. These issues are ultimately better addressed through changes in retirement policy. Population projections should be used only with great caution in designing long-term demographic policy. In particular, some assumptions used to make the U.N. projections are questionable, and even minor changes in those assumptions would yield substantially different policy conclusions. Replacement migration also raises difficult environmental questions by moving large numbers of people from low to high per-capita consumption nations. Modest population decline, particularly in more developed countries, may have significant local and global environmental and climate policy benefits.

     

Demographic Change and Fiscal Sustainability in Asia

Changes in the population age structure can have significant effects on fiscal sustainability since they can affect both government revenue and expenditure. In this paper, we project government revenue, expenditure, and fiscal balance in developing Asia up to 2050 using a simple stylized model and the National Transfer Accounts data set. Rapidly aging countries are likely to suffer a tangible deterioration of fiscal sustainability under their current tax and expenditure system. On the other hand, rapid economic growth can improve fiscal health in poorer, relatively young countries with still-growing working-age populations. Overall, our results indicate that Asia’s population aging will adversely affect its fiscal sustainability, pointing to a need for Asian countries to further examine the impact of demographic shifts on their fiscal health.     

Retirement and death in office of U.S. Supreme Court justices

We construct demographic models of retirement and death in office of U.S. Supreme Court justices, a group that has gained demographic notice, evaded demographic analysis, and is said to diverge from expected retirement patterns. Models build on prior multistate labor force status studies, and data permit an unusually clear distinction between voluntary and “induced” retirement. Using data on every justice from 1789 through 2006, with robust, cluster-corrected, discrete-time, censored, event-history methods, we (1) estimate retirement effects of pension eligibility, age, health, and tenure on the timing of justices’ retirements and deaths in office, (2) resolve decades of debate over the politicized departure hypothesis that justices tend to alter the timing of their retirements for the political benefit or detriment of the incumbent president, (3) reconsider the nature of rationality in retirement decisions, and (4) consider the relevance of organizational conditions as well as personal circumstances to retirement decisions. Methodological issues are addressed.