Search results

As public policies are focusing on retaining the ageing workforce, flexible working time arrangements in late career have gained visibility over the past decades. However, given the institutional nature of these arrangements, little is known about the extent to which older workers reduce working hours at a cross-country level. Using data from the 2012 Labour Force Survey ad hoc module, the article aims to provide estimates about the number of workers aged fifty-five to sixty-nine reducing working time in a move towards retirement (before and after the first old-age pension) and assessing, using a multilevel modelling, whether these arrangements play a role in explaining the decision to work beyond the pension age in thirty European countries. Descriptive results show important variations among countries and between genders. The multilevel model shows that the impact of working time reductions in late career varies from one country to another.

The portability of social benefits – such as the state pension, child allowances and unemployment benefits – for international migrants is regulated by social security agreements concluded between countries or at supra-national level, such as within the European Economic Area (EEA). Focusing on the United Kingdom, this article aims at capturing the main issues that have been recently raised by such agreements, with particular emphasis on the case of migration between the UK and Europe. The first part of the paper summarises the main consideration researchers and policy makers should bear in mind in looking at portability. Using data from the 2013 World Bank migration matrix, the second part of the paper compares the stock of British migrants residing abroad and the stock of foreigners living in the United Kingdom. The third part of the paper summarises the main issues that were raised in relation to the EEA multilateral agreement including the notion of residence, the state pension, family allowances, and the portability of health care benefits. The conclusions highlight the main concerns and options that lie ahead following the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union.

L'objectif de cet article est de comparer la relation entre l'emploi atypique et les revenus du travail aux niveaux sociétal (macro) et individuel (micro). Les données des enquêtes européennes SILC et EFT sont utilisées pour comparer successivement ces deux approches. À partir d'une approche descriptive utilisant des corrélations (macro), nous montrons qu'il n'existe pas de lien entre emploi atypique et revenu du travail. Une forte proportion d'emplois atypiques par pays ne conduit pas à une augmentation (ou une diminution) des inégalités de revenu du travail au sein du pays. Inversement, au niveau micro, on observe dans la majorité des pays européens un lien fort et significatif entre emploi atypique et faiblesse du salaire : les emplois instables ou à temps partiel ont très souvent une faible rémunération. Par le biais d'une régression logistique réalisée pour trois pays (la France, les Pays-Bas et le Royaume-Uni), on met en évidence, non seulement les effets négatifs du travail à temps partiel et de l'emploi instable sur le revenu du travail, mais également l'impact du sexe, du niveau de formation et du secteur d'activité sur le risque d'occuper un emploi à faible revenu.

The portability of social benefits is gaining importance given the increasing share of individuals working at least part of their life outside their home country. Bilateral social security agreements (BSSAs) are considered a crucial approach to establishing portability, but the functionality and effectiveness of these agreements have not yet been investigated; thus, important guidance for policy makers in migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries is missing. To shed light on how BSSAs work in practice, this document is part of a series providing information and lessons from studies of portability in four diverse but comparable migration corridors: Austria-Turkey, Germany-Turkey, Belgium-Morocco, and France-Morocco. A summary policy paper draws broader conclusions and offers overarching policy recommendations. This report looks specifically into the working of the Belgium-Morocco corridor. Findings suggest that the BSSA is broadly working well, with no main substantive issues in the area of pension portability, except for the non-portability of the noncontributory top-up pension and issues with widows' pensions in case of divorce and repudiation, and in health care, the pending introduction of portable health care for retirees with single pensions from the other country. Process issues around information provision in Morocco and automation of information exchange are recognized.