Labour force participation and productivity at older ages

Rapid population aging in China, by raising old-age dependency ratio and reducing labor supply, threatens to slow down economic growth. However, the dependency burden and labor shortage can be alleviated if the working life can be extended. Whether or not retirement can be postponed requires an understanding of the determinants of labor force participation of older workers. In this paper, we utilize the national baseline data from the 2011-12 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study to document the large differences in retirement between urban and rural residents and to motivate a discussion of how institutions influence divergent retirement patterns. Defining retirement to mean actually stopping work, we find that retirement patterns are indeed very different in urban and rural China. Urban Chinese retire at very early age but rural elderly “work until dropping”. The difference is possibly explained by mandatory retirement policy applicable to urban workers, generosity in permitting early exit from career jobs in the urban retirement system, greater coverage and generous pension in urban areas, and a large urban-rural gap in economic and family resources available for elderly support. Regression results suggest that institutions explain a substantial fraction of the urban rural differences in labor force participation.

This paper examines the economic status of the elderly in Fiji in terms of their continued work patterns and coping strategies following retirement. The largest proportion of the working elderly are now engaged in the informal sector. While majority of the Fijian elderly are relying on their children or relatives for financial and physical support, most of the Indo Fijian elderly are living alone or with spouse. Most of the elderly have lost their decision making power and it is in the hands of their children making them more vulnerable. Using primary data from 800 randomly selected participants who are 55 years and above from the urban and rural areas of Fiji, a multivariate logistic regression model was employed to determine the magnitude of the effects of demographic, social and environmental factors on the work status of the elderly in Fiji. The results of the empirical analysis on the economic security of the elderly in Fiji are presented in this paper.

The result collected from the last three censuses of 1976, 1987 and 2005 shows that the number of aged people has not stopped increased in Cameroon. From 1976 to 1987, the number of aged people has been multiplied by 1.3. Eighteen years later, these results represent 1.5 % of those of 1987. Using the data of the third GPHC, this paper uses the analysis of the census to bring out the reasons of the high activity rate of the aged people in Cameroon. In fact, the activities rate of elderly persons of 65 years goes closer to 65%, though it is relatively low for aged women (51%). Globally, the majority of aged people (54.3%) continues to work. Whereas, in other developed countries people do work for a long period to cover the deficit of human labor since the labor is difficult to find, so they go above the normal age of retirement. But, in Cameroon this is not the case because of poverty. Majority of aged people spend their lives working to insure their welbeing and that of their families.

Should older persons work for money? This paper aims to provide the first and important step to answer that question, by analysing the employment patters of older persons in Indonesia. It examines what the older persons did in and outside the labour market. It finds that older persons were more likely to work in more flexible working arrangements. Working as self-employed or unpaid workers seemed to be more suitable for the older persons. Older persons were more likely to work as “skilled agricultural and fishery workers”. Also, they tended to work in agricultural or service sectors. This pattern may reflect the current labour market situation and the human capital of the older persons because advances in technology and social innovations, coupled with enhanced human capital of the older persons, will produce completely different employment patterns among older persons, including the older women, in the future.
The published data from 2007 National Labour Force Survey is the main source of the analysis. This paper examines the empirical conditions of older persons’ employment: sex ratio and age structure of the labour force;