Work, ageing and welfare: retirement behavior in Sweden before the modern pension system, 1870–1950

Reforms of pension systems are high on the agenda, but also controversial since they affect an essential part of the modern life cycle. In this project, we put the current debate in perspective by studying retirement behavior in Sweden, 1870-1950.

Previous research have shown that labour force participation among older people decreased in this period, even though pension benefits were insufficient to sustain a living. We therefor ask: What factors and mechanisms shaped the evolution of retirement behavior over time?

Could people save and plan for their own retirement, or were they forced into retirement due to poor health or inability to keep up with the demands of work.

We will combine the use of longitudinal and cross-sectional data: Censuses gives the opportunity to map out and visualize the share of retired people at various points in time, while a detailed longitudinal database enables us to analyse full life-courses including retirement.

With this rich time variant information at the individual and household level, we estimate the importance of push factors (access to incomes) and pull factors (unemployment or poor health) for both men and women.

Qualitative archival data and published material will provide important contextual and background knowledge on public and occupational pensions.

The historical nature of this project has the potential of uncovering various mechanisms that in today’s world are embedded in existing systems of welfare and employment protection.