Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308866 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 1553
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the retirement response to the pandemic and to the resulting acceleration in the adoption of new technologies. Using the European Union Statistics of Income and Living Conditions datasets and leveraging the natural experiment of many workers being forced to work from home in Europe during the lockdown, we compare the retirement response of older workers in digital occupations (i.e. more exposed to the accelerated adoption of new technologies) versus non-digital occupations to detect any differences in retirement behavior, which we interpret as digitalization effects. In addition, we analyze changes in retirement decisions by gender and geographic area. We find that retirement rates increased during COVID-19 in Europe, especially in Mediterranean countries and among women. This trend may be linked to gender occupational segregation. In Mediterranean countries, digitalization increases female retirement, likely due to challenges in balancing digital work and family responsibilities while working from home. In Eastern countries, and to a lesser extent in Northern countries, digitalization leads to postponing retirement among women, likely due to greater gender equality in unpaid work. In contrast, the retirement age for men is less affected by the pandemic with no significant differences between digital and non-digital occupations. This may exacerbate the existing gender gap in labor force participation and pension outcomes.
Subjects: 
Remote working
Early retirement
Working conditions
COVID-19
Digitalization
JEL: 
J14
J24
J26
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.