Analysing the impacts of retirement decisions and their timing on workers and firms using linked employer-employee data

In response to ageing populations, many governments are raising the age at which people can claim retirement pensions. A key aim of these reforms is to encourage older workers to delay retirement. While numerous studies show that these policies are effective in reducing government expenditure and encouraging older workers to remain in the labour force, relatively little is known about the broader effects of these policies on firms and younger co-workers. The dearth of empirical evidence stems from the fact that studying these effects requires excellent data – large, representative datasets that link employers to employees – and sophisticated research designs that circumvent confounding relationships between workers’ retirement decisions and the outcomes of their colleagues and employers. Our project addresses these challenges by using linked population register data to study the effects of major national retirement reforms on the affected workers and firms.