Wanting to stay productive or financial necessity are the main reasons Europeans keep working even after receiving old-age pension.
13% of people in the EU in 2023 continued working during the six months following the receipt of their first old-age pension.
Among them, about half maintained their previous employment, while the other half made adjustments, such as switching jobs or reducing their working hours.
The data was compiled in the latest member state figures of the Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) by Eurostat.
“It may seem a low number, but retirement ages have increased by multiple years in many EU countries,” said Jelle Lossbroek, a labour market researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (Nidi).
The Baltic countries had the highest share of post-retirement workers.
Estonia was as high as 54%, followed by Latvia at 44.2% and Lithuania at 43.7%, while the lowest shares were registered in Romania at 1.7%, Greece at 4.2% and Spain at 4.9%.
Nearly two-thirds of people who continued working either stated that they enjoyed their work and being productive, or did so due to financial necessity.
The desire to maintain social integration (11.2%) and the financial attractiveness of work (9.1%) were also mentioned as reasons for continuing to work.
Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy had the highest proportion of people who continued working because they enjoyed it.
On the other hand, financial necessity was the main reason for continuing to work in Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria, with 68.6%, 54.3% and 53.6% respectively.
“Countries like Luxembourg and the Netherlands have very generous public pensions, even considering the high cost of living, while countries in Eastern or Southern Europe generally base their pension systems strongly on the salary that people used to have,” said Lossbroek.
“So in countries like the Netherlands, poverty levels suddenly drop when people reach retirement age because they get a decent income regardless of the previous situation. This does not happen in Southern or Eastern countries.”
The transition from the labour market to retirement typically begins when people reach their late 50s, with the majority of individuals leaving the labour market before the age of 70.
