Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World

This ninth phase of the International Social Security project, which studies the social security and retirement experiences of twelve developed countries, examines the effects of pension reform on employment at older ages. In the two decades since the project began, men's labor force participation at older ages has increased, reversing a decades-long pattern of decline. Participation rates for older women have also been rising. While better health, more education, and changes in labor supply behavior of married couples may have affected this trend, these factors alone cannot explain the magnitude of the employment increase and its large variation across countries. Over the same period, many countries have undertaken numerous reforms of their social security programs, disability programs, and other public benefit programs for older workers. The studies in this volume explore how financial incentives to work at older ages have evolved as a result of public pension reforms from 1980 to the present and assess how changing incentives may have affected retirement behavior. The chapters use a common template for analysis, which facilitates comparison of results across countries. Overall, the findings suggest that social security reforms have strengthened the incentives for work at older ages, and that these enhanced financial incentives contributed to the rise in employment at older ages during this period.