Welcoming the rising retirement age

The Adam Smith Institute has welcomed the Government's move to bring forward the rise in the pension age to 68 and calls on it to go further, faster.

Ben Southwood, Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, says;

"The Government has seen sense by raising the retirement age, but they should up the pace.

"Retirement should be more of a steady decline in work than an abrupt cliff. Today our sub-replacement fertility, combined with our steadily improving healthcare, mean that a smaller and smaller working population support a larger and larger group of dependent elderly.

"The mandatory retirement age, combined with the new flat rate, which reduces the disincentive to building up wealth, are steps in that direction. Retirement age hikes are another.

"The evidence from retirement age reforms is absolutely clear: they have huge effects on labour hours for older workers. [1] Not only do later retirement ages mean that older workers take out less—they also pay in more.

"Politicians, and society in general, are usually far too relaxed about the upcoming population bomb, but this move, at least, makes the situation a bit less difficult."

Please contact Matt Kilcoyne for further comment or to arrange an interview.

Email: matt@adamsmith.org Mobile: 07584778207

[1] https://ideas.repec.org/p/cra/wpaper/2017-02.html

https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/ifauwp/2016_011.html

http://ftp.iza.org/dp9834.pdf

http://nber.org/papers/w19913

http://www.nber.org/chapters/c13334.pdf

http://www.nber.org/papers/w19370