February 2026
10Feb

Germany has the oldest workers in the EU

The German population is above average age, and of course this also applies to the labor market. This is dramatic, especially considering the future of the pension system. In no other European Union member state is the working population as old as in Germany. In 2024, of the approximately 40.9 million employed, 9.8 million of them were between the ages of 55 and 64, the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday. This corresponds to a percentage of almost a quarter (24.0...

February 10, 2026
News, ,
Read more...
09Feb

South Korea. Seniors Drive 80% of Employment Insurance Growth as Youth Subscribers Decline

Last month, the majority of new subscribers to employment insurance were seniors aged 60 and older, according to statistics. While the rapid increase in working seniors drove the growth in new subscribers, the number of young people aged 29 and younger enrolled in employment insurance actually decreased. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s report, “Labor Market Trends Based on Employment Administration Statistics,” released on the 9th, the number of regular employment insurance subscribers as of the end of...

February 9, 2026
News, ,
Read more...
06Feb

OECD Employment Outlook 2025. Can We Get Through the Demographic Crunch?

By OECD The OECD Employment Outlook looks at the latest labour market developments and prospects in OECD member countries. This edition also discusses the enormous challenges population ageing poses to living standards and social cohesion more generally. The consequences of an ageing workforce for productivity growth are also analysed. Without swift changes in policies and behaviours, GDP per capita growth will slow down significantly in most OECD countries. Integrating under-represented groups in the labour market will help offset ageing, in particular older...

February 6, 2026
Books, Books, Labor Market, Reports, , ,
Read more...
06Feb

Public Pensions and the Strategic Timing of Formal Employment

  By Diego Vera Cossio, Mariano Bosch, Jonathan M. Leganza, Tatiana Mojica & María Laura Oliveri We study how public pensions impact lifecycle labor supply decisions. Our analysis centers on pension eligibility rules in Ecuador. We first use administrative data to document and unpack retirement spikes at eligibility ages. Next, we use survey data and regression discontinuity to investigate whether eligibility rules influence earlier-inlife decisions about when to work formally versus informally. We find discontinuous increases in transitions to formal employment...

February 6, 2026
Articles, Pension design, , , ,
Read more...
03Feb

UK Treasury offers £100k exit packages amid job cuts

Chancellor Rachel Reeves plans to cut roughly 300 roles from her department by 2030, the Financial Times reported on Monday (2 February). The UK Treasury is reportedly offering officials in the finance ministry up to £100,000 to leave voluntarily amid a wider push to trim administrative spending across Whitehall by 16%. The finance ministry, which employs about 2,100 staff, has already imposed a freeze on external recruitment for many non-essential roles, according to the Financial Times. The voluntary exit packages are calculated as three weeks’ salary for...

February 3, 2026
News,
Read more...

January 2026
16Jan

Bridging Skill Gaps for the Future: New Jobs Creation in the AI Age

By Florence Jaumotte, Jaden Kim, David Koll, Elmer Z. Li, Longji Li, Giovanni Melina, Alina Song & Marina M. Tavares The demand and supply of new skills—especially in IT and AI—are reshaping labor markets, impacting wages and hiring. About 1 in 10 job vacancies in advanced economies demands at least one new skill, often appearing first in the United States. The incidence is about half of that in emerging market economies. These skills boost average wages and employment but deepen...

January 16, 2026
Books, Books, Labor Market, Reports, ,
Read more...
16Jan

Pension Wealth and the Timing of Retirement

By Jonas Maibom, Torben M. Andersen & Anne Katrine Borgbjerg We analyze how pension wealth influences retirement timing using 25 years of Danish administrative panel data on wealth and labor market status. Exploiting early-career variation in firm-specific mandatory pension contribution rates, we study labor supply decisions from age 55 onward. Greater pension wealth accelerates labor market exit: at age 63, the elasticity is about 0.3 — an additional 100,000 DKK (15,000 USD) at age 55 reduces earnings by 1% at...

January 16, 2026
Adequacy, Articles, , ,
Read more...
09Jan

Access to Pensions, Old-Age Support, and Child Investment in China

By Xiaoyue Shan & Albert Park This work studies how access to public pensions affects old-age support and child investment in traditional societies. Guided by predictions from an overlapping generations model, we analyze the influences of a new pension program in rural China, using a difference-in-differences approach. We find that the program crowds out transfers from working-age adults, especially men, to their elderly parents. Interestingly, the impact on child investment significantly differs by child gender. While adult parents increase educational investment...

January 9, 2026
Articles, Labor Market, , ,
Read more...
08Jan

The gig economy is not the future of work — it’s a warning

By Quah Boon Huat   This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 5, 2026 - January 11, 2026 Affan Kurniawan, a 21-year-old ride-hailing driver and his family’s breadwinner, should have been invisible to power. On Aug 28 last year, an armoured police vehicle crushed him as it chased protesters. The video of his death seared Indonesia. Affan was not a protester. He was working — delivering food, saving for a home, keeping his family afloat. His killing ripped through Indonesia,...

January 8, 2026
News, OP Ed, ,
Read more...

December 2025
22Dec

Charted: U.S. Population Growth by Year (2005-2055)

Key Takeaways In 2025, the U.S. population is forecast to grow 0.2% amid record-low fertility rates and an aging population. Over the next 30 years, population growth is expected to decline to zero. By 2048, population will peak, as net immigration growth and natural population decline (deaths > births) cancel each other out. U.S. population growth is slowing, and is projected to grind to a halt by 2048. Today, historically low fertility means births only marginally exceed deaths. Not only that, within the next...

December 22, 2025
News, ,
Read more...