Reforming Early Retirement in Europe, Japan

Comparing the USA, eight European countries, and Japan, this book demonstrates significant cross-national differences in early retirement across countries and over time. The study evaluates the impact of major variations in welfare regimes, production systems, and labor relations and provides comprehensive empirical analysis and a balanced approach to studying both the pull and the push factors affecting early exit from work needed to understand the development of early retirement regimes.

List of Figures

xiii

List of Tables

xiv

Abbreviations

xvi

PART I Exploring interests and institutions

1

(84)

Chapter 1 Introduction: The paradox of early exit from work

3

(19)

1.1 Common trends, diverse trajectories

7

(2)

1.2 Reform efforts to reverse early exit

9

(2)

1.3 Combining pull and push perspectives

11

(4)

1.4 Comparing regimes

15

(4)

1.5 An overview of the study

19

(3)

Chapter 2 Actor constellations and interest coalitions: Labor, employers, and the state

22

(29)

2.1 Actor interests at workplace level

23

(13)

2.1.1 Why would older workers retire early?

24

(5)

2.1.2 Why would employers induce early exit from work?

29

(5)

2.1.3 Why would workplace representatives support early retirement?

34

(2)

2.2 Why do unions, employers, and the state 'collude'?

36

(13)

2.2.1 Organized labor and the state: Extending social rights

39

(2)

2.2.2 Organized labor and the state: Reducing labor supply

41

(2)

2.2.3 Employers and the state: Buying social peace

43

(2)

2.2.4 Employers and the state: Negotiating wage moderation

45

(1)

2.2.5 Organized labor and employers: Controlling exit

46

(2)

2.2.6 Organized labor and employers: Externalizing social costs

48

(1)

2.3 Bringing in institutions

49

(2)

Chapter 3 Protection, production, and partnership institutions: From institutional affinities to complementarities

51

(34)

3.1 Comparative typologies as heuristic tools

52

(24)

3.1.1 Three worlds of welfare-state regimes revisited

56

(7)

3.1.2 Varieties of Capitalism juxtaposed

63

(6)

3.1.3 Labor relations compared

69

(7)

3.2 From institutional affinities to complementarities

76

(11)

3.2.1 Institutional affinities and complementarities under pressure

76

(2)

3.2.2 Institutional affinities and their consequences for employment regimes

78

(5)

3.2.3 Regime configurations and early exit from work

83

(2)

PART II Comparing early exit regimes

85

(116)

Chapter 4 Ever earlier retirement: Comparing employment trajectories

87

(28)

4.1 The rise in inactivity among older workers

88

(15)

4.1.1 The institutionalization of a 'normal' pension age

88

(3)

4.1.2 The decline in participation levels

91

(2)

4.1.3 Unemployment as a bridging pension

93

(3)

4.1.4 The decline of employment rates in preretirement age

96

(4)

4.1.5 Partial exit and temporary employment

100

(3)

4.2 The trend toward early exit from work

103

(9)

4.2.1 Measuring early exit from work

103

(1)

4.2.2 Early exit from work before age 65

104

(5)

4.2.3 Even earlier exit before age 60

109

(3)

4.3 How many early exit trajectories are there?

112

(3)

Chapter 5 The protection-pull factors: Multiple pathways to early exit

115

(42)

5.1 Institutionalized pathways to early exit

116

(27)

5.1.1 The early pension pathway

118

(5)

5.1.2 The flexible and partial pension pathways

123

(3)

5.1.3 The special preretirement pathway

126

(4)

5.1.4 The unemployment pathway

130

(6)

5.1.5 The disability pathway

136

(7)

5.2 The institutionalization of early exit regimes

143

(12)

5.2.1 The unintended consequences of past reforms

144

(2)

5.2.2 Muddling through rising mass unemployment

146

(1)

5.2.3 Putting on the brakes without slowing down

147

(3)

5.2.4 Early exit regimes at their peak

150

(5)

5.3 Is early retirement an (un)intended consequence?

155

(2)

Chapter 6 The production-push factors: The political economy of labor shedding

157

(44)

6.1 Production-related pull factors

158

(14)

6.1.1 Private occupational pensions between pull and push

158

(8)

6.1.2 Occupational welfare as a private early exit pathway

166

(6)

6.2 Structural push factors

172

(8)

6.2.1 Deindustrialization and public sector expansion

172

(3)

6.2.2 Age-related skill profiles and sectoral exit patterns

175

(3)

6.2.3 Cyclical and mass unemployment as push factors

178

(2)

6.3 Institutional push factors

180

(16)

6.3.1 Union movements between pull and push

180

(4)

6.3.2 Employment protection as push factor

184

(3)

6.3.3 Production systems as push factors

187

(7)

6.3.4 Corporate and financial governance as push factors

194

(2)

6.4 Can the varieties of capitalism explain early exit regimes?

196

(5)

PART III Reform obstacles and opportunities

201

(77)

Chapter 7 Exit from early retirement: Paradigm shifts, policy reversals, and reform obstacles

203

(47)

7.1 Paradigm shifts in early exit policies

204

(30)

7.1.1 Raising the statutory retirement age

208

(5)

7.1.2 Reforming disability insurance

213

(6)

7.1.3 Closing special early retirement programs

219

(4)

7.1.4 From long-term unemployment to activation policies

223

(7)

7.1.5 Gradual retirement and part-time work

230

(4)

7.2 Learning the lessons of policy reversal

234

(16)

7.2.1 Reversing exit pathways

234

(6)

7.2.2 The obstacles to policy reversal

240

(2)

7.2.3 Cross-national reform patterns

242

(8)

Chapter 8 Conclusion: From path dependence to path departure?

250

(28)

8.1 Early exit regimes compared

252

(14)

8.1.1 The actors' interests

252

(1)

8.1.2 Protection, production, and partnership institutions

253

(3)

8.1.3 Early exit trajectories

256

(1)

8.1.4 The protection-pull thesis

257

(2)

8.1.5 The production-push thesis

259

(3)

8.1.6 Reversing early exit from work

262

(4)

8.2 Going beyond path dependence

266

(8)

8.2.1 Unintended consequences and path dependence

266

(5)

8.2.2 Toward institutional change and path departure

271

(3)

8.3 Policy implications for aging societies

274

(4)

Appendix Note

278

(1)

References

279

(36)

Index

315

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Reforming Early Retirement in Europe, Japan and the USA

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials