Differences in Life Expectancy Between Self-Employed Workers and Paid Employees when Retirement Pensioners: Evidence from Spanish Social Security Records

Mortality and life expectancy trends in Spain by pension income level for male pensioners in the general regime retiring at the statutory age, 2005-2018

Background

Research has generally found a significant inverse relationship in mortality risk across socioeconomic (SE) groups. This paper focuses on Spain, a country for which there continues to be very little evidence available concerning retirement pensioners. We draw on the Continuous Sample of Working Lives (CSWL) to investigate disparities in SE mortality among retired men aged 65 and above over the longest possible period covered by this data source: 2005–2018. We use the initial pension income (PI) level as our single indicator of the SE status of the retired population.

Methods

The mortality gradient by income is quantified in two ways: via an indicator referred to as “relative mortality”, and by estimating changes in total life expectancy (LE) by PI level at ages 65 and 75 over time. We show that, should the information provided by the relative mortality ratio not be completely clear, a second indicator needs to be introduced to give a broad picture of the true extent of inequality in mortality.

Results

The first indicator reveals that, for the period covered and for all age groups, the differences in death rates across PI levels widens over time. At older age groups, these differences across PI levels diminish. The second indicator shows that disparities in LE at ages 65 and 75 between pensioners in the lowest and highest income groups are relatively small, although slightly higher than previously reported for Spain. This gap in LE widens over time, from 1.49 to 2.54 years and from 0.71 to 1.40 years respectively for pensioners aged 65 and 75. These differences are statistically significant.

Conclusions

Along with other behavioral and structural aspects, a combination of factors such as the design of the pension system, the universality and quality of the health system, and high levels of family support could explain why LE inequalities for retired Spanish men are relatively small. To establish the reasons for this increased inequality in LE, more research needs to be carried out. An analysis of all Spanish social security records instead of just a sample would provide us with more information.

Pensions, Ageing and Social Security Research: Literature Review and Global Trends

Pension systems are one of the fundamental pillars of the welfare state. The ageing of the population caused by longer life expectancy and low birth rates has led to a crisis in the public pension system in developed countries. Changes for the system’s sustainability are necessary, and the scientific literature on the subject is abundant, especially in recent years. This article aims to carry out a bibliometric analysis of the research carried out to date, highlighting, in turn, future lines of research. The study was carried out on a total of 1287 articles published from 1936 to 2021 and found in the Scopus database. The SciMAT, VOSviewer, and Datawrapper tools were used to analyse the most important articles, authors, countries, and institutions by volume of production and citations, as well as the relationships between them. Likewise, the most important keywords and their evolution over time were highlighted, obtaining the main focus of the research. In addition to the general analysis, a specific study was carried out in the area of Mathematics. The results show that the leading countries are the United Kingdom, the USA, and the Netherlands. On the other hand, the lead subject area in which these articles have been published is Economics, Econometrics, and Finance. The research trends are sustainability, pension reform related to ageing, and pension insurance.