Is Lifelong Learning the Key to Later Retirement?

The authors’ analysis of the National Education Panel Study (NEPS) shows that employees who undertook further training between the ages of 55 and 59 were 5 percentage points more likely to work until the age of 65 or beyond, an effect which diminishes only slightly when controlling for level of education and state of health. Statistically, however, the difference is insignificant. The study further reveals that continuing education trajectories in the second half of life depend heavily on further training undertaken in the first. A supplementary analysis of the ‘Survey of Adult Skills’ conducted by the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) shows that around two-thirds of continuing education courses are completed by older employees entirely during working hours, and over 70 per cent are funded exclusively by the employer rather than by the participants themselves. This highlights the importance of opportunities for lifelong learning provided by companies. The proportion of employees who neither participate in further training nor wish to do so increases with age. Highly qualified workers undertake further training significantly more often than the low-skilled. The main challenge currently facing policymakers and companies is therefore to persuade older and lower-skilled workers in simpler jobs to become more involved in lifelong learning.