December 2025
19Dec

Social Security Reforms and Inequality among Older Workers in Spain

By Cristina Bellés-Obrero, Manuel Flores, Pilar Garcia-Gomez, Sergi Jimenez-Martin & Judit Vall Castelló This chapter studies social security reforms and trends in inequalities among older workers over the last decades in Spain. Its main goal is to analyze the redistributive impact of the various pension reforms on older income inequality. Compared to the rules in 1985, recent pension reforms have led to an average increase on Social Security Wealth of approximately 18,000€ for men and 15,000€ for women. This represents...

December 19, 2025
Articles, Labor Market, , , , , ,
Read more...
19Dec

Public pensions and family dynamics: Eldercare, child investment, and son preference in rural China

By Naijia Guo, Wei Huang & Ruixin Wang Using variations in the timing of the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) across rural Chinese counties, we examine its effects on eldercare mode, child investment, and son preference. Our findings are three-fold: (1) After the introduction of NRPS, married sons are less likely to live with and provide care for their parents, while married daughters show no significant change in their caregiving behavior; (2) Parents reduce the brideprice for their sons but not the dowry...

December 19, 2025
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, , ,
Read more...
19Dec

Labor Supply and Savings Responses to Increasing the Pension Eligibility Age in South Korea

By Janghyeok An, Devon Gorry & Jonathan M. Leganza We study how South Koreans responded to an increase in the full pension eligibility age. Using a regression discontinuity design, we document the causal effects of the change on several potential margins of adjustment. We find clear evidence of delayed benefit claiming, consistent with studies in other settings. However, we find little to no statistical evidence of changes in labor supply, in contrast with previous literature. We also find no changes...

December 19, 2025
Articles, Labor Market, , , , ,
Read more...
17Dec

The Pension Fund of Uzbekistan and the ILO join forces to develop the work injury insurance system

As part of the Global Accelerator project in Uzbekistan aimed at employment formalization, representatives of the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction, the Off-budget Pension Fund, the National Agency for Social Protection, and ILO specialists reviewed the current work injury insurance system and discussed the need for legislative amendments, at a meeting on 28 November 2026. The parties committed to facilitating an informed dialogue to strengthen protection for all workers, with the goal of preparing proposals in 2026. This decision...

December 17, 2025
News,
Read more...
05Dec

The working life course of aging LGBTQ workers: An intersectional perspective and a theoretical framework

By Raphael Epper-Hattab & Bryndís D Steindórsdóttir  Aging LGBTQ workers represent a unique and diverse population of workers who have struggled with homophobic and transphobic social constructions and a prolonged invalidation of their identities, stemming from periods when social exclusion and discrimination dominated their lives. These challenges have imposed multifaceted marginalization not only on their life patterns but also on their occupational trajectories and interpersonal relationships at work. Against this backdrop, drawing attention to characteristics of the occupational careers of...

December 5, 2025
Articles, Labor Market, , , ,
Read more...
05Dec

Japan’s Aging Workforce: Determinants and Outlook

By Sagiri Kitao & Nozomi Takeda This paper examines recent trends in the Japanese labor market, with a particular focus on the elderly workforce. Japan's elderly employment rates are notably high compared to other OECD countries and have increased significantly over the past two decades. To investigate the factors that affect the employment of old individuals, we develop a structural life-cycle model with consumption-saving decisions and endogenous labor supply in both intensive and extensive margins. The model is calibrated to...

December 5, 2025
Aging, Articles, , ,
Read more...

November 2025
28Nov

The Cost of Waiting for Nationality: Impact on Immigrant’s Labor Market Outcomes in Spain

By Yanina Domenella In this paper, I examine the impact of administrative delays in obtaining Spanish nationality on the long-term labor market outcomes of legal immigrants. Using Social Security data from 2006 to 2019 and an instrumental variable strategy, I find that longer delays in nationality acquisition result in significantly lower accumulated earnings over a ten-year period, driven by both lower wages and fewer days worked. Specifically, one additional year of delay reduces accumulated earnings over 10 years by 3.8...

November 28, 2025
Articles, Labor Market, , , ,
Read more...
21Nov

The Aftermath of the Pandemic Retirement Boom

 By Lei Fang, Paul Mohnen & David Lee The labor force participation rate experienced a sharp drop during the pandemic, from which it has yet to fully recover. This shortfall can be attributed to a persistent decline in labor force participation among people aged 55 and older. In this blog post, we show that excess retirements relative to prepandemic and higher population shares of retirement-age individuals have both contributed to the decline in the labor force participation rate of older...

November 21, 2025
Articles, Labor Market, , , ,
Read more...
13Nov

Precarious, Poorly Paid, and Unprotected: The ILO’s Definition of the Informal Economy

The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines informal employment as work “in small or unregistered businesses and undeclared jobs within registered firms,” under a definition adopted by the 17th International Conference of Labour Statisticians in 2013. While such jobs often provide quick income and greater flexibility, they are usually unstable, poorly paid, and lack basic protections such as health insurance or pensions. The ILO notes that informal employment is not limited to unregistered businesses. It can also occur within formal companies when...

November 13, 2025
News, ,
Read more...
12Nov

Millennial Small Biz Owners Most Ready to Offer a Retirement Plan

There is a generational gap and gender divide among small business owners when it comes to retirement plan readiness and the perceived importance of offering a plan, according to a new survey. The Capital Group, in partnership with C&C Multicultural, conducted an online survey from April 4–30, 2025, among 1,000 U.S. small business owners (and full-time employees) to gather their views on their outlook and readiness to offer retirement benefits and what they believe are the most important aspects to...

November 12, 2025
News,
Read more...