Income Level and the Value of Non-Wage Employee Benefits

With continuing increases in the cost of medical insurance and other “fringe” benefits, payroll cost for monetary and non-monetary aspects of compensation is a significant factor for most organizations. While this is not a new phenomenon, relatively few studies in the empirical literature have examined the role of fringe benefits in employee compensation plans. Especially in under researched areas, it is imperative that researchers utilize ideas and theories from other disciplines to further our knowledge. Accordingly, this paper borrows the concept of elasticity from the economic literature to help explain and understand employee perceptions of two of the most common, costly, and important benefits—medical insurance and retirement plans. Specifically, the relationship between the current income of employees is analyzed in relation to employee perceptions of the value and importance of benefits. Results suggest that employees do not value medical insurance and retirement plans in the same manner. This result is interpreted in terms of the change in the marginal utility of the specific benefit.     

How Did the Elimination of the US Earnings Test above the Normal Retirement Age Affect Labour Supply Expectations?*

We look at the effect of the 2000 repeal of the earnings test above the normal retirement age on retirement expectations of workers in the Health and Retirement Study, aged 51 to 61 in 1992. For men, we find that those whose marginal wage rate increased when the earnings test was repealed, had the largest increase in the probability to work full-time past normal retirement age. We do not find significant evidence of effects of the repeal of the earnings test on the probability to work past age 62 or the expected claiming age. On the other hand, for those reaching the normal retirement age, deviations between the age at which Social Security benefits are actually claimed and the previously reported expected age are more negative in 2000 than in 1998. Since our calculations show that the tax introduced by the earnings test was small when accounting for actuarial benefit adjustments and differential mortality, our results suggest that although male workers form expectations in a way consistent with forward-looking behavior, they misperceive the complicated rules of the earnings test. Results for females suggest similar patterns but estimates are imprecise.     

Post‐Retirement Financial Strategies: Forecasts and Valuation

This paper uses a discrete‐time, discrete‐state Monte Carlo simulation model to evaluate representative strategies for investing and spending a fixed sum designed to fund consumption during the period after retirement. Two assets are considered – one providing a riskless real return, the other a market portfolio of bonds and stocks. A stochastic process for the returns from the market portfolio is proposed. Then a set of Arrow‐Debreu state prices is obtained on the assumption that the market portfolio is an efficient investment strategy. The model is used to forecast ranges of consumption and ranges of the ratios of year‐to‐year consumption, and also to estimate the values of components of future consumption.     

社会工作在居家养老体系中的介入

近年来,居家养老服务逐步在全国各地发展起来,成为一种新型的养老方式。社会工作在居家养老体系中的介入有直接方法和间接方法,直接的方法包括老年个案工作、老年小组工作、老年社区工作,间接的方法包括老年社会工作行政、老年社会政策。介入模式可以从宏观、中观、微观三个层面来研究。将社会工作的专业方法引入居家养老服务中,可以促进居家养老服务的发展和完善。     

Tax Benefits of Open Individual Private Pension Plans

This article describes the open private pension plans offered in Brazil, which is one of the four pillars of the Brazilian retirement system. A framework is created to describe and analyze the impact of the transaction costs and tax advantages one can obtain from these financial products. This framework allows us to show and measure the advantages of these products versus other alternatives for long-term investment in the Brazilian financial market. It is shown that private plans are better than direct investment in funds in a high interest rate environment.     

城镇企业职工养老保险基金支付能力测算模型的构建——基于“渐进式”延迟退休年龄策略的研究

应用社会保险精算方法和技术,以现行的社会养老保险政策为导向,重点考虑"渐进式"延迟退休因素,构建养老保险基金收支测算模型。并在此基础上推导出养老保险基金支付能力测算模型,以期对养老金失衡风险和支付能力危机进行及时预测,为养老保险政策的调整和完善提供依据。     

激励和限制相结合的企业弹性退休制度探讨

随着人口老龄化,提高退休年龄成为趋势。文章认为,延长退休年龄涉及到就业、企业成本和社会公平等诸多问题,因此,必须在保证就业和社会公平目标下延迟退休年龄。文章指出,建立以最低工作年限为法定退休条件的弹性退休制度,需要通过经济激励,引导民营企业参与,并以政策限制和避免国有企业滥用制度。     

失独老人的社区照顾模式探究——基于福利多元主义理论的视角

目前,我国失独老人数量与日俱增,随着年岁的增长,他们的养老需求也逐渐增加,并呈多元化趋势。我国政府、机构、家庭和民间社会组织在应对养老需求上各具优势,但这四种养老模式都难以独自面对失独老人的养老问题。运用福利多元主义理论,有效整合各种养老资源,构建依托社区、政府引导、民间社会组织支持和市场补充的多元化社区照顾模式,以解决失独老人的养老难题。     

中国农村人口老龄化的趋势、影响与应对

中国农村人口老龄化具有程度高于城镇、速度快于城镇、地区差异大于城镇、老年人口多于城镇等特征,应对农村人口老龄化更为急迫,任务也更为艰巨。未来中国农村人口老龄化将继续发展,并表现出明显的阶段性特征：2010—2020年为快速发展阶段,是应对农村人口老龄化的战略机遇期;2021—2034年为高速发展阶段,是应对农村人口老龄化的关键时期;2035—2050年为高位发展阶段,是应对人口老龄化的常态化时期。农村人口老龄化将对农村劳动力供给、经济发展、社会保障制度风险、养老服务需求等产生深远影响。必须高度重视应对农村人口老龄化,加大对农业、农村的投入,积极推进农业现代化;加快户籍制度改革,减缓农村人口老龄化进程;完善农村社会保障体系和农村社会服务体系,促进城乡社会保障和服务一体化。     

Employment transitions and computer use of older workers

Our empirical analysis studies the impact of computer use on out of employment transitions of older workers, disentangling the effect of using a Personal Computer (PC) at work from that of being PC literate. Data are drawn from the 2000, 2002 and 2004 waves of the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth. We provide empirical evidence that, even controlling for a wide set of covariates, older employees who use a PC at work have a higher probability of remaining employed in the future. However, our results also indicate that, once PC literacy is controlled for, the use of a PC at work decreases only marginally the risk of becoming not employed (i.e. the effect is smaller than the one registered when we do not control for PC literacy).