​Impact Of The Implementation Of Retirement And Re-Employment Act On Older Workers' Employment Outcomes

The Retirement and Re-employment Act (RRA) was implemented in 2012 to provide older workers with the opportunity to work beyond the age of 62 by setting out the conditions under which employers are to offer eligible workers re-employment till age 65. This study evaluates the impact of the implementation of the RRA on the employment outcomes of older workers.

We find that the RRA has raised the employment rate of the older employees covered by the RRA by an average of 1.6 percentage-points per annum since implementation. The RRA likely affected employment rates through the social norm channel, as workers could have taken the re-employment age of 65 as the new "mental anchor" on the appropriate age to retire, instead of the statutory retirement age of 62. We also find no evidence of a pre-emptive shedding of older workers in 2011 before the implementation of the RRA.