Since the 1970s early exit from work has become a major challenge in modern welfare states. Governments, employers, and unions alike once thought of early retirement as a peaceful solution to the economic problems of mass unemployment and industrial restructuring. Today governments and international organizations advocate the postponement of retirement and an increase in activity among older workers. Comparing the USA, eight European countries, and Japan, this book demonstrates significant cross-national differences in early retirement across countries and over time. The study evaluates the impact of major variations in welfare regimes, production systems, and labor relations. It stresses the importance of the 'pull factor' of extensive welfare state provisions, particularly in Continental Europe; the 'push factor' of labor shedding strategies by firms, particularly in Anglo-American market economies; and the role of employers and worker representatives in negotiating retirement policies, particularly in coordinated market economies. Over the last three decades, early retirement has become a popular social policy and employment practice in the workplace, adding to the fiscal crises and employment problems of today's welfare states. Attempts to reverse early retirement policies have led to major reform debates. Unilateral government policies to cut back on social benefits have not had the expected employment results due to resistance from employers, workers, and their organizations. Successful reforms require the cooperation of both sides. This study provides comprehensive empirical analysis and a balanced approach to studying both the pull and the push factors affecting early exit from work needed to understand the development of early retirement regimes.

Examines the consequences of early retirement from the workforce in advanced industrialized economies for individual lives, labor markets, and welfare states, discusses the reasons why older working people withdraw from employment prior to statutory pension age, and discusses obstacles to reform efforts.

This Research Handbook takes stock of the state of the art in sociological research on globalization and the contributors outline future trajectories for this, one of the most pressing and challenging sociological themes of our time.

Introduction : the political economy of pension reform / by Camila Arza and Martin Kohli -- The "new politics" of pension reforms in Continental Europe / by David Natali and Martin Rhodes -- Between conflict and consensus : The reform of Bismarckian pension regimes / by Martin Schludi -- How do politicians get away with path-breaking pension reforms? : the political psychology of pension reform in democracies / by Einar Overbye -- The politics and outcomes of three-pillar pension reforms in Central and Eastern Europe / by Katharina Muller -- Changing European welfare : A new distribution pattern of pension policy? / by Camila Arza -- The interdependence of the system of solidarity and the system of equivalence / by Martin Rein and Karen Anderson -- The Anglo-American pension regime : failures of the divided welfare state / by Robin Blackburn -- The gender pension gap : effects of norms and reform policies / by Patricia Frericks and Robert Maier -- Generational equity : concepts and attitudes / by Martin Kohli.

Comparative analysis of pension systems in the EU-15 countries and Switzerland. Gives an overview of the political institutions and party systems, and traces the proposed and enacted pension reforms since the 1980s.

Increasingly flexible labour markets and reforms of old-age pension systems are still ranking high on the political agenda of European countries. This volume investigates whether, and to what extent, the interplay between pension reforms and the spread of 'atypical' employment patterns and fragmented careers has a negative influence uponeconomic security in old age. The volume, therefore, analyzes the flexibility-security nexus by focusing on the post-retirement phase, thus extending the conventional narrow concept of 'flexicurity'. The book also questions whetherreforms of public and private pension schemes compensate or aggravate the risks of increasingly flexible labor markets and atypical employment careers after retirement? Around this overarching research question, the various contributions in the volume employ the same analytical framework in order to map, and then compare, the developments in seven European countries - Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and the UK which present different labour market arrangements and various degrees of flexibility, as well as diverse pension systems.

This book explores the adoption of 'active ageing' policies by EU15 nations and the impact on older peoples' work and retirement policy options. Policies examined include unemployment benefits, active labour market policies, partial pension receipt, pension principles, early retirement and incentives for deferral.