Women and Pensions in Italy: Gender Imbalances and the Equalization of Retirement Age

This paper examines the age at retirement for men and women in Italy. Despite the expansion of women’s educational attainments, they still display lower employment rates, are frequently engaged in involuntary part-time jobs and have more fragmented careers. As a consequence, the mean age at which wo...

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Main Authors: Nicola De Luigi, Roberto Rizza, Federica Santangelo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Sociology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2021.707591/full
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author Nicola De Luigi
Roberto Rizza
Federica Santangelo
author_facet Nicola De Luigi
Roberto Rizza
Federica Santangelo
author_sort Nicola De Luigi
collection DOAJ
description This paper examines the age at retirement for men and women in Italy. Despite the expansion of women’s educational attainments, they still display lower employment rates, are frequently engaged in involuntary part-time jobs and have more fragmented careers. As a consequence, the mean age at which women receive a pension is higher than that of men. Using Labour Force Survey (2006 and 2012), the authors test the hypothesis that women’s higher age at retirement is determined by a selection bias towards more educated and work oriented women. A Heckman selection model has been developed. Results show that the main disadvantage is suffered by women with medium and low levels of education who show the highest estimated age at retirement, whereas higher educated women retire on average before men with the same level of education. The authors argue that pension policies, without interventions in the field of work-life balance policies, end up penalizing women with lower levels of education.
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spelling doaj.art-9c155f5e5f9049b5a5ea6cd389db60292022-12-21T17:33:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sociology2297-77752021-11-01610.3389/fsoc.2021.707591707591Women and Pensions in Italy: Gender Imbalances and the Equalization of Retirement AgeNicola De LuigiRoberto RizzaFederica SantangeloThis paper examines the age at retirement for men and women in Italy. Despite the expansion of women’s educational attainments, they still display lower employment rates, are frequently engaged in involuntary part-time jobs and have more fragmented careers. As a consequence, the mean age at which women receive a pension is higher than that of men. Using Labour Force Survey (2006 and 2012), the authors test the hypothesis that women’s higher age at retirement is determined by a selection bias towards more educated and work oriented women. A Heckman selection model has been developed. Results show that the main disadvantage is suffered by women with medium and low levels of education who show the highest estimated age at retirement, whereas higher educated women retire on average before men with the same level of education. The authors argue that pension policies, without interventions in the field of work-life balance policies, end up penalizing women with lower levels of education.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2021.707591/fullage at retirementheckman modelgender inequalitieseducational levelspension policiesEU-labour force survey
spellingShingle Nicola De Luigi
Roberto Rizza
Federica Santangelo
Women and Pensions in Italy: Gender Imbalances and the Equalization of Retirement Age
Frontiers in Sociology
age at retirement
heckman model
gender inequalities
educational levels
pension policies
EU-labour force survey
title Women and Pensions in Italy: Gender Imbalances and the Equalization of Retirement Age
title_full Women and Pensions in Italy: Gender Imbalances and the Equalization of Retirement Age
title_fullStr Women and Pensions in Italy: Gender Imbalances and the Equalization of Retirement Age
title_full_unstemmed Women and Pensions in Italy: Gender Imbalances and the Equalization of Retirement Age
title_short Women and Pensions in Italy: Gender Imbalances and the Equalization of Retirement Age
title_sort women and pensions in italy gender imbalances and the equalization of retirement age
topic age at retirement
heckman model
gender inequalities
educational levels
pension policies
EU-labour force survey
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2021.707591/full
work_keys_str_mv AT nicoladeluigi womenandpensionsinitalygenderimbalancesandtheequalizationofretirementage
AT robertorizza womenandpensionsinitalygenderimbalancesandtheequalizationofretirementage
AT federicasantangelo womenandpensionsinitalygenderimbalancesandtheequalizationofretirementage