The labor penalty that women suffer due to motherhood and the greater burden of domestic work determines the retirement age of the group. A report from the UAB Center for Demographic Studies (CED) highlights that more men (55.5%) than women (45.5%) leave the labor market prematurely. “Women work later due to their shorter stay in the labor market at younger ages, and working later would ensure them the number of years of contributions necessary for a retirement with full benefits,” says the report by María Andrée López, CED researcher.
There are also differences in the timing of retirement depending on the type of job. For example, “people in routine occupations tend to exit the labor market prematurely.” Specifically, “60% of men in the lowest occupational category (routine) make an early exit, compared to 48% of men in the highest occupational category (professionals).” In the case of women it is 51% and 39% respectively.
The report recalls that these people in routine occupations “have fewer job opportunities,” and adds that “their working life expectancy is more affected by economic crises and changes in the market.”
For all these reasons, the UAB researcher estimates that “equally delaying the retirement age can perpetuate existing inequalities by socioeconomic level in working life expectancy and also extend them to the mechanisms for accessing a dignified retirement.”
How should this diversity be managed? López responds that this is the main challenge and is difficult to solve, but she is committed to correcting the problems by improving the most precarious contracts and increasing the employability of women when they try to return to the labor market.
The report also confirms the difficulty in Spain for workers with a partial disability to re-enter the labor market. 26% of people who access retirement do so due to a disability, which means lower income for the rest of their lives. The researcher highlights that almost the only way out when a worker is recognized with a disability is to go into retirement. “The labor market is not prepared to accept diversity in the workplace,” she declared.
In the last 10 years, the average retirement age for men has been 62 years. while women have done it a little earlier.
