Is there a motherhood penalty in retirement income in Europe? The role of lifecourse and institutional characteristics

Abstract

This study examines the retirement income of women in Europe, focusing on the effect of motherhood. Due to their more interrupted working careers compared to non-mothers and fathers, mothers are likely to accumulate fewer pension entitlements, and consequently, to receive lower incomes in later life. However, pension systems in Europe vary widely in the degree to which they compensate for care-related career interruptions by means of redistributive elements or pension care entitlements. Therefore, care interruptions may matter for the retirement income of women in some countries, but may be rather irrelevant in others. On the basis of life history data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARELIFE) for women aged between 60 and 75 years in 13 European countries, the interplay of individual lifecourse characteristics with institutional and structural factors is examined. The results show that the lower retirement income of mothers is mainly a result of fewer years in employment and lower-status jobs throughout the lifecourse. The analysis of institutional factors reveals that pension care entitlements are not able to provide a compensation for care-related cutbacks in working life. A generally redistributive design of the pension system including basic or targeted pension schemes, in contrast, appears as an effective measure to balance differences in employment participation over the lifecourse.

Gender Inequalities in Early Career Trajectories and Parental Leaves: Evidence from a Nordic Welfare State

“…However, already at this early stage of the career, women's earnings were clearly lower than men's earnings. Because the early stages of working life are also a strong predictor of later employment and earnings development, it is fairly certain that the observed differences will accumulate further throughout their life course and also affect their future retirement income (Koskenvuo 2016;Möhring 2018).…”

“…The impact of gendered working lives and career breaks due to family leaves also manifests itself in the pension gap between men and women towards the end of the life course (Möhring 2018). Although the gap in the length of male and female working lives is narrowing, the differences in wages and time spent outside the work force still lead to a considerable pension gap between men and women (Järnefelt and Nurminen 2013;Kuivalainen et al 2018).…”

The role of social networks in using home care by older people across Continental Europe

“…First, the association between having members of the family as confidants and informal care use in European regions indicates the need to maintain and strengthen support for informal carers throughout the continent. Such support can include cash benefits, respite care for informal carers, a combination, or carers’ credits, which many European pension systems have already introduced (Möhring, ). In northern and western Europe, increased daily contact with confidants and higher satisfaction with the social network are associated with a lower likelihood of using formal or combined care, which is the evidence of the substitutability of formal and informal care with the aim of addressing the in‐home needs of older people (Mentzakis et al, ).…”

La pensión pública de jubilación en España una triple discriminación de género

“…su equidad. Las regulaciones de la mayoría de los sistemas de pensiones europeos están basadas en asunciones normativas sobre las biografías laborales y las relaciones de género, desfavoreciendo a los individuos con carreras laborales no estándares (Möhring, 2018). En España, el acceso a la pensión pública de jubilación asume biografías laborales largas, continuas y con jornada completa.…”

“…A study based on a mixed micro-simulation and Agent-based model' (CSO2017-89721-R), Juan de la Cierva programme (FJCI-2014-22513) and has been supported by a predoctoral training contract scheme (BES-2014-068591Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the CERCA Programme/Government of Catalonia. regulations in most European pension schemes are based on regulatory assumptions about employment histories and gender relations, which cause individuals with non-standard career paths to be disadvantaged (Möhring, 2018). In Spain, eligibility for a State retirement pension is based on assumed requirements of a long, continuous and full-time work history.…”