Faculty seminar with Lea Nassal

Lea Nassal - CV

Title: Job Loss and Retirement

Abstract: This paper provides new evidence on the long-term effects of job loss on retirement, based on German administrative data. To identify the effect of job loss, I exploit plant closures to compare the retirement behavior of displaced workers with similar workers who did not experience job loss. I show that displaced workers delay their retirement in response to the shock. This delay is equally driven by extended periods of both employment and unemployment, and ineligibility for early pension claiming is the main driver of this response. Despite adjustments in retirement behavior, displaced workers still face significant losses in pension benefits and lifetime income. Compared to similar non-displaced workers, displaced workers experience losses in the present discounted value of income of around 26%.