Federal Institute for Population Research

Trends of Working Lifetime in Germany and Worldwide

Content and Objectives

The extent of the social challenges arising in Germany from the impending retirement of the baby boomer generation also depends largely on how employment among older people and thus general working lifetimes change in future. Calculations of the working lifetime in the context of socio-political issues are highly informative and relevant as they allow detailed statements to be made regarding the distribution of working lifetimes according to birth cohorts and age groups. Conceptually, the analysis of the working lifetime combines economic and demographic aspects in one indicator, the interpretation of which goes deeper than, say, the frequently encountered consideration of employment rate trends.

Calculations based on the data of the microcensus for Germany from 1996 to 2017 document a universal increase in the working lifetime: for men and women, in East and West Germany, and for people of all educational levels. However, there are significant differences in the absolute number of years spent in employment.

At European level, comparisons of trends in working lifetimes and healthy life expectancy – defined according to various health aspects – show a very heterogeneous picture, however, there is still fundamental potential for longer participation in the labour market, especially among 60-to-69-year-olds. In connection with rising statutory and actual retirement ages, it is important to take socio-economic differences in employment behaviour and health into account.

In addition to looking at labour market participation, analyses of unpaid work and how it changes over time are also sought. Data from the Time Use Survey allow, for example, the analysis of activities in the household, of care and education efforts for children and other family members, as well as of voluntary activities.

Data and Methods

The more complex the method for calculating working lifetime is, the more detailed the data must be. For the international comparative analyses, the Sullivan method is used, in which labour force participation rates are combined with mortality data. For this purpose, aggregate data from the EU LFS, micro data from SHARE and mortality data from the Human Mortality Database are used. For the calculations for Germany, partial information from employment biographies is combined to form complete employment histories. Data for this are based on the microcensus (1996-2017).

Duration

08/2018–12/2021

Partners

  • Dr. Christian Dudel and Prof. Dr. Mikko Myrsklä, Max-Planck-Institut for Demographic Research (MPIDR), Rostock, Germany

Selected Publications

Dudel, Christian; Loichinger, Elke; Klüsener, Sebastian; Sulak, Harun; Myrskylä, Mikko (2023):

N-IUSSP.

Dudel, Christian; Loichinger, Elke; Klüsener, Sebastian; Sulak, Harun; Myrskylä, Mikko (2023):

Demography 60(4): 1115–1137.

Backhaus, Andreas; Barslund, Mikkel (2021):

European Economic Review 137.

Loichinger, Elke; Klüsener, Sebastian (2021):

DAV-Kompass: 12–13.

Loichinger, Elke; Weber, Daniela (2020):

Jagger, Carol; Crimmins, Eileen M.; Saito, Yasuhiko; Tiene De Carvalho Yokota, Renata; Van Oyen, Herman; Robine, Jean-Marie (Eds.): International Handbook of Health Expectancies. International Handbooks of Population book series (IHOP, volume 9): 249–261.

More Publications

Loichinger, Elke; Klüsener, Sebastian (2020):

Bevölkerungsforschung Aktuell 1/2020: 3–7.

Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung (Ed.) (2019):

Policy Brief, September 2019.

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