The impact of easy and early access to old-age benefits on exits from the labour market: a macro-micro analysis

We examine whether easy and early access to old-age benefits induce older workers to become inactive. We use Polish LFS data. We find added worker effect prevailing over discouraged worker effect. The latter arises after a few quarters and is asymmetric. Females permanently leave the workforce. More males leave the workforce in contractions than re-enter in expansions. If old-age benefit becomes the main source of income, the worker (after 1 year) is 8 to 20 times more likely to exit the market than unemployment or social welfare beneficiaries. Our findings support higher retirement age—the age when workers become eligible for old-age benefits. JEL classification: J14, J22