Page 15 - IDEA Study 7 2015 Working Beyond Pensionable Age

Graph 5: Share of retired and employed individuals and share of individuals with health-related limitations, conditional on age Source: SHARE 2012 for the Czech Republic Graph 6 depicts the evolution of economic inactivity and unemployment with age. The unemployment rate among males steadily rises with age until the statutory retirement age, at which point it declines sharply. The evolution of the unemployment rate for females is similar, with the exception of the unemployment rate among females aged 45 years and younger. Importantly, neither of the unemployment rates indicate any sudden rise in unemployment rate around retirement age that could explain a sudden mass exit from the labour market. The unemployment rate among the individuals immediately leading up to retirement age is only 1–3 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate among 50 years of age individuals. This evidence further supports our hypothesis that retirement is mainly voluntary in the Czech Republic. Although unemployment and health problems do influence Czechs' decisions to leave the labour market and enter retirement, the evolution of health problems with age does not explain the sudden exit of almost whole cohorts from the labour market to inactivity. 13