People taking voluntary early retirement call for more flexibility

A survey from Denmark's LO trade union confederation, released in October 1998, indicates that one in 10 people who have taken voluntary early retirement regret their choice. Furthermore, nearly one-third of all those on voluntary early retirement would rather work while receiving partial early retirement benefit.

The rules on voluntary early retirement have been a major issue in the debate on labour market policy in Denmark (DK9807179N). The possibility of retiring after reaching 60 years of age is being used to an increasing extent, with the result that the average age of retirement has fallen to below 63 years. Both the government and the opposition parties in parliament view this trend with concern. The government has committed itself not to interfere with the right to voluntary early retirement and, therefore, intends to reverse the trend in the coming years by introducing more flexible rules which will make it more possible to work following early retirement. According to the existing rules, a person on early retirement benefit is allowed to work for a total of 200 hours a year.

A survey carried out for the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO), the results of which were released in October 1998, indicates that a large group of people on early retirement benefit are very interested in a more flexible scheme. Of the survey respondents, 26% state that they would prefer to be on partial early retirement benefit - ie with a right to work as well - rather than full early retirement benefit. Of those who are in favour of partial early retirement benefit, 62% state that they would like to work between 11 and 20 hours a week, 18% that they would like to work between 0 and 10 hours a week and 16% that they would like to work full-time. The latter figure indicates that a number of people fully regret having left the labour market. This is borne out by another survey question: nearly one in 10 people on early retirement benefit answered, when asked directly, that they completely regret having opted for voluntary early retirement.

When questioned about the reason for their early retirement, a fifth of respondents stated that poor health was the main reason, whereas another fifth cited high work tempo and demanding job functions as the reasons. According to LO, this shows that there is a great requirement for businesses to take their policy on older employees seriously. Seen in the light of ever-decreasing numbers of youngsters in the coming years, there thus seems to be a need to make working life more attractive to older workers. "A revision of the early retirement benefit scheme must have as its objective strengthening the will and desire of the individual wage earner to stay on the labour market," commented the president of LO, Hans Jensen, on the survey.