Le partage d’emploi entre générations. Analyse des effets régulateurs et redistributifs de la réduction du temps de travail en fin de carrière sur l’emploi des jeunes

Abstract

This article analyses the impact of policies reducing work time at the end of careers on the employment of younger generations. In the 1970’s, early retirements for older wor­kers were fostered in the aim of allowing the entry of young people into employment and of controlling the job market. We will first show that the regulatory and redistributive stakes of those policies confronted one another until the 1990’s. Secondly, we will stress the recent development of part-time work at career’s end via composite statuses. Thirdly, we will show that the scientific debate surrounding employment sharing between generations refers to the “Lump of Labour Fallacy”, a notion stressing the regulatory effects of early departure policies. We postulate that the regulatory and redistri­butive effects act simultaneously. Lastly, for Belgium, we empirically analyse the impact of composite statuses on the sharing of employment between generations in terms of sectors of activity.

Keywords

• employment
• older workers
• work time
• linear regression
• Lump of Labour Fallacy