Self-Employment and Retirement in Canada: The Labour Force Dynamics of Older Workers

Abstract

Dans cet article, à l'aide de données de l'Enquête sur la dynamique du travail et du revenu, de 1993 à 2008, nous analysons les changements qui se produisent parmi les travailleurs âgés au Canada. Nous observons d'abord que les proportions de travailleurs indépendants parmi ces travailleurs sont élevées; cela s'explique par le fait que les travailleurs indépendants restent plus longtemps sur le marché du travail que les employés. De plus, parmi les travailleurs indépendants, les hommes (toutes caractéristiques confondues) ont tendance à travailler plus longtemps que les femmes, dans toutes les classes d'âge, et les femmes ont tendance à être moins sensibles aux facteurs reliés à l'âge (comme les systèmes de pension) que les employées. Nos résultats montrent également que, quand on tient compte des caractéristiques individuelles et de l'ancienneté, les travailleurs qui deviennent travailleurs indépendants à un âge plus avancé continuent de travailler plus longtemps que les employés. Mots clés : retraite, travail indépendant, dynamique du marché du travail, population, vieillissementUsing panel data from the Surveys of Labour and Income Dynamics covering the period 1993 to 2008 in Canada this study examines labour force transitions among older workers. High rates of self-employment among older workers primarily result from greater labour market continuation among the self-employed compared to paid employees. Older self-employed men across all characteristics examined are more likely to continue working at each age, while self-employed women do not respond to age-related factors (such as the pension system) to the same extent as paid employees. Labour market continuation is found to be higher among late-life entrants to self-employment than among paid employees after accounting for individual characteristics and job tenure.

Retirement of the self-employed in the Netherlands

“…We add evidence to the scarce literature on retirement of self-employed (e.g. Parker and Rougier, 2007;Hochguertel, 2010;Schuetze, 2015;Heim,2015) analysing the labour supply at the extensive and intensive margin of older entrepreneurs and exploring heterogeneous effects that vary with wealth and gender.…”

Pensionable age vs cross-country diversity of economic activity of the near-elderly

“…They demonstrate that the occupational composition of an economy explains a significant part of cross-country differences in terms of the effective retirement age. As for the form of employment, some studies show that self-employment supports a longer working life (Hochguertel, 2010; Parker and Rougier, 2007; Schuetze, 2015). The premise behind such a trade-off can be multidimensional in nature.…”

Entrepreneurship among older workers: international evidence

“…In addition, using English Longitudinal Study of Ageing data, Kautonen et al (2017) estimated that late-age switches into entrepreneurship were accompanied by significant average income reductions. These findings all cast doubt on the potential for generating meaningful increases in labor force participation rates and wealth creation via selfemployment schemes for older workers (see also Schuetze, 2015). Zissimopoulos and Karoly (2007) used five waves of HRS data over 1992 to 2000 to study the transitions from full-time paid employment among American workers aged 51-67.…”