Objectives: The project analysed the relationship between ageism and longevity in light of challenges to the sustainability of social security. Ageism has two dimensions in this respect: one is the age of forced retirement, the elimination of which can significantly ameliorate social insurance sustainability. On the other hand, the elimination of the forced retirement age is claimed to have a negative effect on general unemployment, especially among young, inexperienced new workers. These are two juxtaposed manifestations of ageism. The project tackled these ageist claims, empirically analyses the impact of retirement-age reforms on the labor market and finds a way to weigh their relative importance to reach policy conclusions.
Results: The researcher thoroughly examined the effects of the retirement-age reforms to promote longer working lives on the economy from various angles. The researcher systematically synthesized the existing evidence. The systematic review showed the possibility of negative effects of the reforms on the employment of younger people in the short to medium term. Considering both the limited number of available studies and the heterogeneity of study designs, however, it is impossible to draw firm conclusions. The systematic review suggests more studies on supplementary policies that mitigate the negative effects and on gender differences that are lacking in the previous studies. The researcher empirically analyses the potential effects of the retirement-age reforms filling the gaps in the existing evidence. The researcher also conducted a study to understand public attitudes towards older workers. The research showed that younger people don’t have negative attitudes toward longer working lives but possibly have negative attitudes when the government sets a big budget for jobs for the older people.
Updated secondment(s)(Months), co-Supervisors: JU, (2.3m), Dr. Perek-Bialas; UNECE (2.67m) Gaucaite. The first secondment was geared towards exposing the ESR to academic settings which examine ageism in the workforce. The second secondment was geared towards exposing the ESR to work-related policies and legal aspects.
