Demanding Occupations and the Retirement Age in the Netherlands

55 Pages Posted: 21 Mar 2014 Last revised: 3 Mar 2015

See all articles by Niels Vermeer

Niels Vermeer

CPB Netherlands Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis

Mauro Mastrogiacomo

De Nederlansdche Bank (DNB); Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, School of Business and Economics

Arthur van Soest

Tilburg University; Netspar; RAND Corporation; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

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Date Written: October 31, 2014

Abstract

In the policy debate on increasing the statutory retirement age, the issue has been raised to make an exception for workers with demanding occupations, since health considerations may make it unreasonable to expect them to work longer. We use unique Dutch survey data to analyze the general public’s opinions on what are demanding occupations, to what extent it is justified that someone with a demanding occupation can retire earlier, and on the willingness to contribute to an earlier retirement scheme for such occupations through higher taxes. A representative sample of Dutch adults answered several questions about hypothetical persons with five different jobs. Panel data models are used to analyze the answers, accounting for confounding factors affecting the evaluations of the demanding nature of the jobs as well as their reasonable retirement age or willingness to contribute to an early retirement scheme. The Dutch public thinks that workers in demanding occupations should be able to retire earlier. A one standard deviation increase in the perceived demanding nature of an occupation translates into a one year decrease in the reasonable retirement age and a 30 to 40 percentage points increase in the willingness to contribute to an early retirement scheme for that occupation. There is some evidence that respondents whose own job is similar to the occupation they evaluate find this occupation more demanding than other respondents but respondents are also willing to contribute to early retirement of occupations that are not similar to their own.

Keywords: Retirement age, public pensions, justification bias

JEL Classification: J26, J81, H55

Suggested Citation

Vermeer, Niels and Mastrogiacomo, Mauro and van Soest, Arthur H. O. and van Soest, Arthur H. O., Demanding Occupations and the Retirement Age in the Netherlands (October 31, 2014). Netspar Discussion Paper No. 10/2014-004, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2411969 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2411969

Niels Vermeer (Contact Author)

CPB Netherlands Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis ( email )

P.O. Box 80510
2508 GM The Hague, 2585 JR
Netherlands

Mauro Mastrogiacomo

De Nederlansdche Bank (DNB) ( email )

PO Box 98
1000 AB Amsterdam
Amsterdam, 1000 AB
Netherlands

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, School of Business and Economics ( email )

De Boelelaan 1105
Amsterdam, 1081HV
Netherlands
+31(0)20 444 6037 (Phone)
+31(0)20 444 6004 (Fax)

Arthur H. O. van Soest

Tilburg University ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, DC Noord-Brabant 5000 LE
Netherlands

Netspar

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

RAND Corporation ( email )

P.O. Box 2138
1776 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138
United States

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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