DETERMINANTS OF EARLY RETIREMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Early retirement is a phenomenon which has been studied in some depth in the last three decades. However, the literature has not studied adequately the variables that relate to the desired age of retirement and the variables that explain the discrepancy between the desired and the actual age of retirement, in the European Union. This study uses a subsample of 18 European countries of the first release of the dataset of the fifth round of the European Social Survey to investigate the factors that affect the desired age of retirement and the discrepancy between the actual and the desired age of employment. We focus on a subsample of around 9.000 respondents who are in the age range of 50-64. People in this age range, not in active employment, may be considered to have retired early. We used multilevel linear regression models to investigate our research questions. We found that the desired age of employment is explained by both personal (demographic and career) characteristics as well as country-specific characteristics (e.g. the GDP). However, the discrepancy between the actual and the desired retirement age is explained only by personal (demographic and career) characteristics. We conclude that early retirement is frequently imposed on people by external factors, beyond their control. Early retirement is not just a habitus which appeared in the last decades, but also a complex phenomenon with social as well as financial characteristics.