Pushed out prematurely? Comparing objectively forced exits and subjective assessments of involuntary retirement across Europe

Given the efforts in raising the statutory pension age in an aging Europe, this cross-national
analysis investigates constrained retirement from a comparative perspective. Based on
a conceptualization of retirement transitions as a multi-faceted phenomenon, the study
distinguishes objective (external) constraints and the subjective self-assessment of involuntary
retirement. Exploiting two survey items from the fifth round of the European Social
Survey (ESS Round 5, 2010/2011), we examine which workers were objectively forced to
retire due to economic or health reasons as well as which workers subjectively evaluate
their retirement as involuntary as they would have wished to work longer. Using multilevel
modeling, the study investigates the impact of national context conditions on both
the individual risk to be objectively forced to terminate work and the subjective perception
of retirement as occurring too early. We analyze institutional factors such as statutory
pension ages and pension generosity, but also explore the role of structural factors such
as unemployment and health. At the individual level, the empirical analysis reveals that
objectively forced exits and subjective involuntariness do not always overlap. Ojectively
forced exits are more readily explained by socio-economic characteristics like social class
and unemployment experience. At the macro level, there are considerable cross-national
variations that cannot be explained by compositional factors only. Relevant predictors
of international differences in constrained retriement include early retirement options,
statutory pension conditions, unemployment rates, labor market regulation and life
expectancy.