PurposeIt is important to understand why some workers prolong their working life even though they are entitled to statutory pension benefits. This paper aims to investigate whether senior workers are motivated by external factors such as pay and social expectations (extrinsic motivation) or are primarily motivated by internal factors such as job satisfaction (intrinsic motivation). This is a central question for policymakers and social partners when it comes to the design of public pension systems and work organisation.

Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a combined longitudinal administrative data and an own-designed postal survey to ask individuals aged 65–76 years to describe their work motivation. Based on the answers, this study constructs an index of autonomous motivation (AM) where a value of zero implies only extrinsic motivation and a value of one implies only intrinsic motivation. The values between zero and one thus imply various grades of AM, where higher values signal motivation that is more autonomous and hence a higher degree of intrinsic work motivation.

FindingsThe results of the statistical analysis show that the extent of intrinsic motivation is higher among senior workers who retired aged 65 years or older compared to those who retired at 65 years or younger. In addition, this study found that the degree of intrinsic work motivation among senior workers decreases when they face economic and financial constraints. It also found that intrinsic motivation is more prevalent among high-skilled workers.

Research limitations/implicationsThis study shows that individuals who continue to work after 65 are mostly motivated by the satisfaction they derive from their job. Job satisfaction is strongly related to skill level, job quality, job content and job autonomy. Results indicate that job quality and commitment to work are essential elements for motivating seniors to postpone retirement.

Originality/valueThis study contributes to this literature by applying a multidisciplinary approach from organisational psychology and labour economics that considers the potential importance of intrinsic motivation to work after standard retirement age. The authors think that this approach enhances the understanding of the mechanisms behind the lengthening of working life. Finally, this study suggests a simple, but efficient way of empirically measuring the extent of intrinsic motivation among workers.

Despite a decline in union density over the last two decades, the Swedish social partners remain the main actors responsible for labour market norms and regulations affecting the terms and conditions of employment. The Swedish experience remains a good illustration of the positive “productive” role played by a developed bipartite social dialogue based on powerful and independent social partners, especially regarding the mitigation of potentially negative consequences of globalization, external macroeconomic shocks, rapid structural and technological changes, and the transformation of the world of work. The Swedish flexicurity regime, based on negotiated flexibility, creates a favourable institutional environment for negotiated compromises aimed at balancing flexibility, security, efficiency and social justice in an open economy strongly exposed to international competition and growing economic turbulence. The Swedish IR system has favoured growth-enhancing structural change, limited job polarization, and significantly contributed to the development of a knowledge-intensive economy, reinforcing the competitiveness of the Swedish economy and fostering full employment and balanced growth.

The main objective of this chapter is to analyse the transformations of IR systems and social dialogue in Europe during the last three decades and the extent to which we observe some convergence/divergence. The last decades have seen a clear decline in union density and coverage rates of collective bargaining and a marked tendency towards decentralisation of collective bargaining. The period has therefore been characterised by a weakening of the capacity of social partners to regulate the labour market and to an increase of state interventions (labour market deregulation) leaving more scope to market forces and/or unilateral decisions of employers regarding pay and working conditions. If the policy objective of the EU and its member states is to move towards IR systems characterised by powerful and autonomous social partners playing a crucial role in the production of labour market norms, there is a long way to go. Uncertainty therefore continues to overshadow the political and institutional conditions needed for convergence towards an IR regime favouring labour market governance based on autonomous and strong social partners.

Människors arbetsförhållanden har stor betydelse för deras beslut att gå i pension eller att fortsätta arbeta. Möjligheten att gå ner i arbetstid och anpassning av arbetsuppgifter är viktiga faktorer för att fortsätta arbeta för flera.

När människor går i pension har stor betydelse, både för deras egna pensionsinkomster och för samhällsekonomin. ISF har undersökt vilka faktorer som påverkar tidpunkten för pensionering och vilka motiv människor själva har för att gå i pension eller fortsätta arbeta.

Rapporten visar att de flesta uppger positiva motiv för sina beslut att gå i pension eller att fortsätta arbeta. De som går i pension svarar att de har andra meningsfulla saker att göra än att arbeta. Och de flesta som fortsätter arbeta svarar att de gör det för att arbetet är stimulerande.

Men det finns även en förhållandevis stor grupp som går i pension tidigt på grund av hälsoskäl eller för att arbetet är alltför stressigt. Runt en femtedel fortsätter också arbeta av huvudsakligen ekonomiska skäl.

Personer som själva kan styra över sitt arbete blir kvar längre i arbetslivet. Framför allt verkar möjligheten att gå ner i arbetstid vara en viktig förutsättning för att förlänga arbetslivet. Nästan hälften av de som arbetat heltid vid 64 års ålder hade gått ner på deltid efter 65. Och en fjärdedel av alla som arbetar efter 65 uppger att de skulle vilja minska sin arbetstid.

Även arbetsgivarnas inställning har betydelse för ett förlängt arbetsliv. En majoritet av de som fortsatt att arbeta efter 65 uppger att uppmuntran och stöd från arbetsgivaren har varit en bidragande orsak. Det finns också en mindre andel som svarar att de gått i pension för att de känt sig motarbetade av sina arbetsgivare.

Om enkätundersökningenRapporten är ett samarbete med forskare på Linnéuniversitet som även var ansvariga för den underliggande enkätstudien. Runt 12 000 personer mellan 65 och 76 år svarade på frågorna.

Purpose Drawing on a unique combination of longitudinal administrative data and a postal survey, the purpose of this paper is to identify the socio-economic factors and individual characteristics that affect senior citizens' decision to continue working on the Swedish labour market after the standard retirement age. Design/methodology/approach By using standard econometric techniques (multinomial logit model) on a large representative sample of 20,000 senior citizens residing in Sweden, the auhtors analyse the extent to which socio-economic factors and individual characteristics including personality traits affect the decision of senior citizens to delay retirement and to continue working after the standard retirement age. Findings The results of our estimations show clearly that good health, high educational attainment/high-skilled jobs, good psychosocial work environment, employment status (to be self-employed), personality traits (extraversion, openness to experience and conscientiousness) as well as industrial sectors (agriculture, healthcare and transport) are strong predictors of the continuation of work after the standard retirement age (65 years old). Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, the paper is the first attempt in Sweden to analyse jointly a large range of factors influencing the decision to remain in the labour force after the standard/normal pension age, including psychosocial working conditions and personality traits.

This chapter analyses to what extent bogus self-employment is prevalent in Sweden and identifies institutional and economic factors that may explain its magnitude and development. Drawing on the last wave of the European Working Conditions Survey and using standard econometric techniques we analyse the prevalence of bogus self-employed in the EU-28 and Nordic countries and examine main differences between self-employment and bogus self-employment. We find that Sweden displays a lower incidence of bogus self-employed compared to other EU member states. Bogus self-employment appears to be more prevalent in certain segments of the labour market, in particular in industries such as construction, transport and personal household services. The specificity of the industrial relations system in Sweden, with strong social partners, high union density and coverage rate of collective agreements in all sectors of the economy, may explain the limited development of bogus self-employment and relatively low incidence compared to other member states.

One of the basic elements of the Swedish model is a strong contractual tradition and the crucial role played by the social partners in mechanisms for regulating labour market, working conditions and wage formation. The bipartite and contractual nature of labour market regulations coupled with the high union density and high coverage rate of collective bargaining create a favourable institutional environment for the emergence of negotiated compromises aimed at balancing flexibility and security in the labour market. Sweden constitutes, therefore, a good illustration of a flexicurity regime based on negotiated flexibility and largely explains why Sweden remains a country with decent working conditions, low income disparities and extended social justice. A compressed wage structure with relatively high wage floors have also prevented the development of low-skilled jobs in Sweden and instead have boosted policies favouring skill upgrading. In effect, large investment in research and development, a well-developed lifelong learning as well as a more balanced bargaining power between the two sides of industry have limited the tendency towards job and class polarisation in Sweden.

This paper explores the relationship between the prolongation of working life and subjective health. Drawing on a unique combination of longitudinal data and the results of a postal survey in Sweden, we investigate the health consequences of extending working life beyond the normal retirement age of 65. To do this, we compare the health status of two groups of retired people: one group who left the labour market completely at the age of 65, and a second group who remained in employment after the age of 65. Using a standard linear probability model and controlling for a range of socio-economic variables as well as previous labour market experiences, perceived life expectancy, pre-retirement income and health, our estimations show that those continuing to work after 65 on average display a 6.8% higher probability of reporting better health during retirement than those leaving at the age of 65. However, we find that this positive correlation between the extension of working life and health is only transitory. After 6 years of retirement, the health advantage of working after the normal retirement age disappears. Furthermore, we did not find any evidence that working after the age of 65 is positively correlated with physical fitness, self-reported depressive symptoms or well-being.