The effect of the statutory retirement age on spousal paid employment

Abstract We investigate the direct effect of the oldest spouse’s statutory retirement age on the retirement behavior of couples. We find a positive direct effect of the statutory retirement age on the labor participation and hours worked of both partners. In particular, we find that younger partners decrease their participation by up to almost 2 percentage points once the oldest spouse reaches the statutory retirement age. Male younger partners are twice as responsive than women. The responsiveness is also about twice as strong in high-income households than in low-income households.