1. Income from work after retirement:
exploring policy lessons
Symposium organised by Eurofound
IFA conference
29 May 2012, Prague

2. Work after retirement:
needs, interest & opportunities
Outline:
1. Trend in paid work after retirement in the EU27
2. Why have retirees been taking-up work?
3. Who are these working retirees and what do they do?
IFA conference symposium
“Income from work after retirement: exploring policy lessons”
29 May 2012, Prague
Hans Dubois
Eurofound, Living Conditions & Quality of Life unit
This presentation is based on: Eurofound (2012, forthcoming) Income from work after retirement. Dublin: Eurofound.

3. 1. TREND IN PAID WORK AFTER
RETIREMENT IN THE EU27
%-point increase employment rate 65-69 year olds
6 2005Q4 vs 2011Q4
4
2
0
Italy
Spain
Finland
EU27
Belgium
UK
Netherlands
Hungary
Greece
Estonia
Poland
Latvia
Germany
France
Denmark
Portugal
Austria
Sweden
Ireland
Bulgaria
Slovakia
Slovenia
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Romania
Lithuania
-2
-4
-6
More than 1 out of 10 Europeans between
-8 65-69 does paid work.
Up from 8.9% (2005Q4) to 10.8% (2011Q4).
-10

4. 2. WHY HAVE RETIREES BEEN
TAKING-UP WORK?
The drivers of work after retirement
a)
Need
Strength of each driver’s impact depends
on individual & regional situations. c)
Opportunities WORK?
b)
Interest

5. A) FINANCIAL NEED
• Income
 Lower than before retirement
 Pensions are the principal source for most Europeans
• Cost
 Health, mortgages
 Public cuts increased cost for most

7. • Longer run: adaptation of pension systems, increased
employment among younger cohorts and increased
productivity can contribute to solving inadequacy
• More immediate: retirees have been taking up paid work
• Not only because of financial need, but also because
many want to work after the retirement age…

8. B) INTEREST
33% wants to continue working after official retirement
age, especially those closer to retirement
8
Source: Special Eurobarometer 378

9. In the EU27, around 1/5 works purely because of
financial need
Would enjoy paid job, even if you don’t need the money** (2010)
14-54 55-64 65+
Job Agree 47% 51% 64%
Disagree 34% 33% 21%
No job Agree 57% 47% 48%
Disagree 25% 33% 33%

10. C) OPPORTUNITIES
• Labour market
 Sufficient jobs
 Suitable jobs (e.g. skills mismatch)
• Individual
 Health
 Caring commitments
 Skills
• Company/government/collective labour agreements (institutional
structures)
 Supporting services (public/private)
 Age-adapted workplaces
 No discrimination against older workers
 Flexible work arrangements
 Financial (fiscal, benefits) & legal arrangements
• Society
 Cultural: perceived to be ‘normal’/’acceptable’

11. 3. WHO ARE THESE WORKING RETIREES
AND WHAT DO THEY DO?
Who are they?
% employed, EU27*
2006Q4 2011Q4
65-69 9.2 10.8
Mainly healthy, relatively young
70-75 4.4 5.2 retirees
% employed, EU27, 65-69 years*
2006Q4 2011Q4 Highly educated (& living in urban
15-64 65-69 15-64 65-69
Pre-primary, primary areas) more likely to continue
and lower secondary 48.4 8.4 44.6 8.5
Upper- and post- working, but many lower educated as
secondary non-tertiary 69.4 9.7 68.1 10.5
Tertiary 83.2 19.0 81.8 18.1
well, and medium is the group which
shows most growth
% employed, EU27, 65-69 years*
2006Q4 2011Q4
Female 6.6 8.0 Mainly male
Male 12.3 13.9
Sources: * Calculated from LFS data from Eurostat online database, ** Eurofound analysis of ESS data

12. What do they do? Most:
• Self-employed
 more likely self-employed continue working
- not accumulate enough pension
- work more enjoyable and more important role in life
- succession issues
 salaried more often become self-employed in retirement than vice versa
- fulfil dream
- most attractive working conditions
- contractual formality, while effectively ‘salaried’
- no alternative
• Part-time
• Temporary
• Often in agriculture/fishery, rarely in public administration
Source: Calculated from LFS data from Eurostat online database

13. Clusters of working retirees

14. Thank you!
Hans.Dubois@eurofound.europa.eu
Dublin, Ireland