Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak

Retirement Behaviour in Poland and the Potential Impact of Pension System Changes

This paper focuses on retirement behaviour in Poland, especially early withdrawal from the labour market. It shows that retirement ages are very low, which can be attributed to the current regulations of the old-age pension system, as well as other pre-retirement transfers. The age of retirement is closely related to the legal framework of the pension system and changes that can be observed follow changes in legal regulations. The logit model constructed to measure the impact of selected individual characteristics on retirement shows that gender and education level have the greatest influence on retirement age. Women and persons with lower educational attainment usually retire earlier. Also, employees in the industrial sector tend to retire at a younger age. Higher wage levels before retirement provide incentives to work longer. Changes introduced in the new pension system, particularly the launch of the pension formula that links the old-age pension level to the contributions paid and life expectancy at retirement age, alters the incentives for future pensioners. Postponing retirement leads to significantly higher pension levels. As a result, it is expected that after 2008, the retirement age in Poland will rise sharply. Still, incentives will only work if society is provided with information about the pension system.

The collection of pension contributions: a comparative review of three Central European countries

This article presents a comparative review of systems of collection of pension contributions in three Central European countries. We discuss some basic requirements for successful contribution collection and show how these three countries fare in that regard. The changing role of the social security institutions is described. The broad trend toward integrated collection systems, with an enhanced role of the tax authority is clearly discerned, although with some country-specific features. Contribution compliance is analysed for the largest group of insured persons – employees, using the indicator: covered wage bill (as percentage of GDP). The value of this indicator has mostly been decreasing in the 2000s. This is not a satisfactory development and could contribute to the deteriorating financial sustainability of public pension systems.

Practical Applications of Improving Pension Income and Reducing Poverty at Advanced Older Ages: Longevity Insurance Benefits in Ireland and Poland as Models for the United States

Practical Applications Summary Elderly poverty has been a vexing challenge for U.S. policymakers for years. As people age, they face a myriad of financial challenges, such as the cost of caring for an ill spouse, that can erode the nest eggs they spent decades building. As a result, the poverty rate for people 75 and older is higher than for people aged 65 and older. Ireland and Poland have addressed the problem by providing financial help to people aged 75 and older and aged 80 and older, respectively. As a result, both countries have poverty rates among citizens aged 75 and older that are equal to or lower than poverty rates for persons aged 65 and older. In Improving Pension Income and Reducing Poverty at Advanced Older Ages: Longevity Insurance Benefits in Ireland and Poland as Models for the United States, which appeared in the Winter 2017 issue of The Journal of Retirement, John Turner, director of the Pension Policy Center, Gerard Hughes of Irelands Trinity Business School, Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak of the Warsaw School of Economics, and David M. Raines of the U.S. Social Security Administration, examined the approaches taken by Ireland and Poland to combat elderly poverty and considered how those approaches might be applicable to the U.S. and Canada.

Who gets a job after graduation? Factors affecting the early career employment chances of higher education graduates in Poland

The massification of higher education in Poland means that many students choose this educational pathway to improve their chances for a good job. Therefore, the labour market outcomes of graduates provide an important perspective for future students, higher education institutions, as well as decision makers at the national level. The Polish Graduate Tracking System (ELA), based on administrative data, is designed to monitor graduates’ outcomes in the labour market by type of studies, higher education institution, as well as individual curricula. Results of the first two years of graduate tracking show that the outcomes vary by study area, but also change over time. While in the first months after graduation, aspects such as prior experience in the labour market and place of residence have a substantial effect on employment chances, in the longer run, they lose their importance relative to other factors.

Public and Private Mix in the Polish Pension System

In this book a distinguished group of contributors discuss the changing political economy of pension reform. They focus on those countries which have launched a significant reframing of their pension system. Each chapter provides a detailed review of recent pension reforms and offers institutional evidence of the extent to which these reforms suggest a redirection of the welfare state towards a more public-private mix of policies. The countries were selected to represent the variety of new directions which mature industrial countries as well as countries in transition have taken.