The Effect of an Increase of the Retirement Age on the Health, Well-Being, and Labor Force Participation of Older Workers

A Systematic Literature Review

Bibliographic Data

ID12957984
AuthorsPatrick Pilipiec (0000-0003-0214-1811, Maastricht University, corresponding author), Wim Groot (0000-0003-1035-5916, Department of Health Services), M Pavlova (0000-0002-6082-8446, Maastricht University Medical Centre)
Year2020
Volume14
Issue2
Pages271-315
Publication date2020-05-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Population Ageing (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1874-7876 • E-ISSN: 1874-7884
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s12062-020-09280-9
OpenAlexW3021271080
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited51

To sustain a viable public pension system, many governments have increased the statutory retirement age and delayed the age of entitlement to public pension benefits. This systematic literature review investigates the empirical evidence on the effects of increasing the retirement age on the health, well-being, and labor force participation of older workers. Optimized and broad search queries were used to search for empirical evidence in four databases: EconLit, PsycINFO, PubMed, and SocINDEX. The systematic literature search was conducted in May 2019. Snowballing was performed on the reference lists of the publications to find additional studies. The quality of the included studies was also examined. The PRISMA guidelines were used to guide this systematic literature review. Nineteen studies were included in this review. Twelve studies estimated the effect of an increase in the statutory retirement age, and seven studies examined working beyond the retirement age. The reported findings were classified into health-related outcomes, well-being, and the effects on labor force participation and the perception of the retirement age. The reported findings regarding health-related outcomes and well-being were not comparable. The increase of the retirement age has increased labor force participation among older workers and has increased the preferred and expected retirement age in the direction of the public pension reform. However, evidence on the effects of an increase of the retirement age on the health and well-being of older workers remains scarce and inconclusive

Demographic economics · Economics · Empirical evidence · Entitlement (fair division · Health and Retirement Study · MEDLINE · Pension · Political science · PsycINFO · Public health · Retirement age · Statutory law · Employment and Welfare Studies · Global Health Care Issues · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Retirement, Disability, and Employment · Finance · Gerontology

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