Patterns and Determinants of Elderly Workers' Retirement in Japan

Nobutaka Fukuda , Tohoku University

This study aims to investigate the patterns and determinants of aged people's retirement in Japan. Although much attention has been paid to low fertility and population ageing, it has been insufficiently studied about elderly workers' participation in the labour market. Thus, this paper examines retirement patterns in Japan. Data come from "International Comparative Survey on Marriage and Family in Japan" (nationwide panel survey). The targeted population is Japanese men and women between ages 20 and 69. We selected men and women over age 50 who had been engaged in a job at the first wave of the survey. Event-history analysis was used for four waves of the panel survey. Results showed that elderly workers’ greater wages postponed the timing of their retirement. Second, while self-employed and agricultural workers got retired at a relatively advanced age, but retirement patterns did not differ between employees in professional and service jobs. Third. job career interruptions had a stronger impact on women’s than men’s retirement. The retirement patterns of aged workers is regarded as the joint product of socio-economic incentives and structural constraints. Besides, there is a gender gap in the impact of incentive and constraint factors on retirement.

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 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe