Graying and staying on the job: The welfare implications of employment protection for older workers

Arbeitspapier

We study the welfare implications of employment protection for older workers, exploiting recent bans on mandatory retirement across Canadian provinces. Using linked employeremployee tax data, we show that the bans cause large and similar reductions in job separation rates and retirement hazards at age 65, with further reductions at higher ages. The effects vary substantially across industries and firms, and around two-fifths of the adjustments occur between ban announcement and implementation dates. We find no evidence that the demand for older workers falls, but the welfare effects are mediated by spillovers on savings behavior, workplace injuries, and spousal retirement timing.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper Series ; No. 62

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Retirement; Retirement Policies ; Labor Discrimination: Public Policy ; Social Security and Public Pensions
• Subject: employment protection ; retirement ; welfare ; active and passive savings responses ; health effects ; spousal spillovers

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Morries, Todd ; Dostie, Benoît
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Waterloo, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF)
• (where): Waterloo
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/279424
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET