Conference Agenda

A high rate of the elderly participating in labor force and a high rate of their living together with their children have characterized the Japanese aging society. Although these features are still evident, a new pattern of living together has emerged since the mid-1990s: the number of living together with unmarried children has been increasingly frequent among the elderly. Economic conditions of the not-working elderly and the child generation are related to the emergence of this pattern. The previous works, based on the quantitative analyses of SSM (Social Stratification and Mobility) 2005 and JGSS (Japanese General Social Survey) 2010-15, clarified the changes in relations between family types and economic status for the elderly aged 60 or over. European societies are also facing the rapid population ageing. This paper attempts to explore how similar or different the family forms and economic status of the elderly are between Japan and European countries.

The main findings of my previous works are the following: first, individual and household incomes of the elderly had declined sharply from 1995 to 2005. While expanding pension system keeps the economic status of the not-working elderly stable, the high level of income disparity among the not-working men aged 60-64 is evident in the 2000s and the early 2010s. The early 60s of age for not working men is now an unstable transition time in that some receive good pension and others are likely to struggle to survive till the pension age.

Second, the rate of living together with children among the elderly is declining and the not-working elderly are more likely to live separately from their children. Expanding pension system ensures the economic stability, and there is no change in this tendency. However, examining income distributions of the not-working elderly living with their children clarified the new pattern of living together emerged from 1995 to 2005. The distribution of household income showed that living together with children in 1995 could be an affluent living style. However, the household income did not increase in 2005 due to the stagnated income of child generation. As a result, the meaning of living together with children has changed. For low-income households, living together with children implies the mutual dependency between parent and child generation in economic sense. This pattern is confirmed in the early 2010s.

The EASS data sets contain rich information on socio-demographics that would enable us to conduct the same analyses as the Japanese one. Based on the typology of Esping-Andersen, this paper will analyze the UK, Germany and Sweden data around 2010.

Summary of the research

Against the background of population ageing and policies to stimulate longer working lives, this study examines poverty among older people and retirees in Europe along well-established lines of social stratification: employment status, age, gender, education and (last) occupation. Prior studies have shown that generous state pensions are able to alleviate poverty, that is, in countries that provide higher state pension income, poverty is less prevalent among the older population. However, it is unclear to what extent state pension systems are also able to alleviate social inequality in poverty. Welfare state theories predict that especially social categories that are vulnerable to end up in poverty gain resources from welfare benefits. When thinking of such benefits, people commonly think of unemployment, disability or housing benefits, but old-age benefits in terms of state pension is also considered part of a country’s welfare provisions. Exploiting two decades of ESS data and within- and between-country variation in poverty as well as state pension generosity, the current study examines this open question by looking at differences in poverty between people with and without a paid job, between people with different ages (even in the sample restricted to older individuals), between men and women, between the lower and higher educated, and between those who occupy or occupied (if fully retired) lower- and higher-status jobs. It also explores whether social inequality in poverty has increased over time. What has been the impact of increases in statutory retirement ages? Have welfare austerity measures increased poverty rates? Have certain social categories been hit disproportionately? Answering these questions will identify social groups that face higher risks of poverty in old age and will provide clear policy implications regarding the design of state pension systems. As such, it fits well with the call for papers for two sessions, which are ‘Transition to retirement’ (5. Poverty and inequality among older individuals and retirees) and ‘Quality of life in retirement’ (5. Social support, pension systems, and well-being outcomes).

About the author

Mark Visser is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands). His research interests include older workers, retirement, the life course perspective, social capital, social inequality and the welfare state. He wrote his dissertation on inequality between older workers, with a particular focus on educational and social class differences in late career outcomes such as retirement timing, involuntary retirement and demotion. He was the recipient of the Jowell-Kaase Early Career Researcher Prize 2019 and delivered a keynote talk at the 4th International ESS Conference. He consistently takes a pan-European, comparative perspective and his work, using ESS data, has been published in the European Journal of Political Research, European Societies, Social Indicators, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Research, and The Sociological Quarterly.

Use of ESS data

All available rounds of the ESS, enriched with country-level data from mostly external sources, such as Eurostat, the OECD and the World Bank.

Old-age social exclusion encompasses a range of disadvantages that originate from various sources, one of which is ageism, which is the systemic discrimination and prejudice against individuals based solely on their age. Social exclusion is a phenomenon characterized by the separation of individuals or groups from the dominant social fabric of mainstream society, resulting in their marginalization and reduced participation in social, economic, and political spheres. Older individuals who undergo social exclusion tend to experience its effects for a more prolonged duration of their life course when compared to their younger counterparts, thus exacerbating their marginalized status. The definition of social exclusion is frequently shaped by disciplinary perspectives, contextual factors, and even political initiatives aimed at mitigating the negative consequences of marginalization and disadvantage.

A plethora of studies have investigated the causal factors contributing to social exclusion. The social exclusion of older people can arise from a complex interplay of various factors, including but not limited to ageism, physical and cognitive impairments, lack of access to resources and services, limited social networks, economic disparities, inadequate housing, and discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, and other social identities. As far as we know there aren’t studies which examine the impact of trust on social exclusion. In economics, trust refers to the expectation that other individuals or institutions will behave in a manner that is consistent with mutually beneficial outcomes. Trust is crucial for facilitating economic transactions and interactions, as it helps to reduce transaction costs and increase cooperation among individuals and organizations. It can have significant effects on economic outcomes, such as investment, trade, and innovation. In cultural and sociological contexts, trust refers to the confidence or reliance that individuals have in one another, based on shared values, norms, and beliefs. It is a fundamental aspect of social relations and is critical for building and maintaining social networks, institutions, and communities. Trust can also be influenced by cultural factors, such as beliefs, traditions, and customs, as well as historical experiences and collective memories. The research question of this study is to explore the influence of trust on the social exclusion of the elderly population.

From the methodological point of view, a cross-sectional study design was used. The study data were sampled from the European Social Survey (ESS9-2018) and a total number of 34,760 individuals from 29 European countries were analyzed. Out of the total sample, there are 9,298 individuals aged 65 years and older. Four different indexes of social exclusion were used. The main independent variable is trust. The research question aims to investigate the impact of trust on the social exclusion of older people. The control variables include life satisfaction, happiness level, health, gender, age and economic situation.

The findings of this study highlight the significance of trust in mitigating social exclusion among the elderly population. Policymakers and organizations that address the needs of the aging population should recognize the importance of trust and develop policies aimed at fostering trust and reducing social exclusion.

We shed light on an understudied group: retirees in unions. In times when an increasing number of workers are leaving unions in Europe, unions are faced with a loss in their organizational strength, resulting in an income loss. One possible way to maintain financial resources and to keep up organizational strength is to focus also on former employees who are now in retirement. This subgroup of (potential) union members can become an important target group for unions in the future. Surprisingly, the group of retirees has not yet been studied in detail in the literature when it comes to union membership. We fill this research gap by using representative individual-level data from 19 European countries obtained from the European Social Survey for the years 2008, 2014, and 2020.

We take a look at union members in retirement and analyze the determinants of their membership compared to active workers over time and in different European countries. We find that the share of retirees in unions and the union density of retired workers increased between 2008 and 2020. This finding is new and stands in contrast to the decreasing union density of active workers in Europe found by different researchers and us. A closer look at the countries in our dataset reveals that there is a large variation in the proportion of retirees among trade union members and in the union density of retired workers in Europe. It is striking that northern and central European countries have the highest proportion of retirees among trade union members, as well as the highest union density, whereas former communist countries have the lowest values in both indicators.

Linear probability models indicate that, on average, retired workers' probability of union membership is 17 percentage points lower than that of active workers ceteris paribus. Moreover, we find that there is great variation between the European countries. The negative retiree effect in union membership ranges from 40 percentage points in Finland to almost zero in the Netherlands.

Our results are consistent with theoretical models such as the social custom model, which implies that a decrease in peer pressure to be a union member is associated with an increased likelihood of leaving the union. Moreover, our results are consistent with theoretical cost-benefit considerations. Retirement is associated with a loss of income; assuming that union membership is a normal good, this also implies a decline in the demand for union membership. We further find that some determinants of union membership differ between active and retired workers, and that standard membership models from the literature better explain the unionization of active than retired workers, pointing to a fruitful field of future research. Our results are robust in light of different robustness checks, including using robust, probit, and logit models, as well as considering different age subgroups in our analysis or using the European Social Survey from the year 2018 instead of 2020, due to Covid-19 response concerns.

Widowhood is a common experience and one of the most stressful events in later life. Apart from the grief of losing a partner, widowed individuals often lose an important source of emotional and social support that operates as a ‘safety net’ when health needs emerge. Research has shown that widows and widowers have worse health and lower levels of subjective well-being than married individuals. Despite a number of studies that have brought to light the association between widowhood and health and wellbeing outcomes, previous findings are mixed in terms of whether family relationships buffer the stress associated with the loss of a partner, and whether country contexts moderate the effect of widowhood on subjective wellbeing.

The goal of this study is to examine the moderating effects of parent-child relationships on the association between widowhood and subjective wellbeing in different European countries, by using data from the European Social Survey 2020-2022 (ESS round 10, edition 3.2). I analyse the marital status (i.e., in partnership, separated or divorced, or widowed) of older adults aged 60+ in 22 European countries. Unlike previous studies on the matter, a larger set of indicators on parent-child relationships – measured through parent-child co-residence, closeness, and face-to-face, phone and digital contact frequency with a child aged 12 or more – is included in the analysis. The used measures of subjective wellbeing are: happiness and life satisfaction, scales ranging from zero (extremely unhappy/ dissatisfied) to ten (extremely happy/ satisfied).

Preliminary results from OLS regression models show that both widowed and separated older adults are more likely to report lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction compared to married or cohabiting individuals, with men suffering more form the lack of a partner than women do. Among both men and women, having very close relationships or living with a child aged 12 or over reduce the decline in subjective wellbeing associated with the loss of a partner (either by widowhood or separation); and this moderating effect is weaker among men than among women. Having more than weekly contact, either in-presence or by phone/digital technology, does not seem to buffer the detrimental impact of widowhood on individual wellbeing. The findings also show cross-national variations in the impact of widowhood on subjective wellbeing, with widowed adults reporting a lower decrease in subjective wellbeing in Nordic and Baltic European countries competed to those living Eastern, Southern and Continental European countries. However, the buffering effects of parent-child co-residence and relationship closeness do not seem to vary according to the country clusters considered.

This study shows how the negative consequences of the loss of a partner can be attenuated by having a family network of support. The findings suggest that emotionally close relationships may give a sense of relief among older adults, regardless of the frequency of interactions. Future development of this study will include more sophisticated and in-depth analysis on cross-national differences in the effects of widowhood and parent-child relationships on subjective wellbeing.