Demographic Change and Productive Ageing in Europe: Findings from SHARE Karsten Hank University of Cologne Seminar on Unpaid work and volunteering in the context of active ageing Bruxelles, 29 November 2011 1
Burden of ageing: Challenges for labour markets and social security systems Active ageing: increase in healthy life expectancy & potentials for productive ageing 2
Dimensions of productive ageing market work non-market work formal informal helping informal caring home production volunteering (social networks) (family support) (organizations) 3
Unpaid productive activities of elders (50+) across Europe 40 35 30 25 Informal helping: Ø 18 % Formal volunteering: Ø 10 % Informal caring: Ø 5 % 20 15 10 5 0 Schweden Dänemark Niederlande Belgien Frankreich Deutschland Österreich Schweiz Italien Spanien Griechenland Netzwerkhilfe Ehrenamt Pflege Source: SHARE 2004 (Wave 1); own claculations. 4
Hypothesis 1: Societal determinants of productive ageing Societal images of ageing influence elders propensity to engage in productive activities. If a productive image of ageing dominates reflected, for example, in a high labour force participation of older workers individuals should be more likely to engage in volunteering, helping, or caring. Hypothesis 2: Productive ageing is embedded in a country s culture of civic engagement, which is shaped by a society s degree of religious and political freedom and bears a positive association with individuals propensity to get involved in productive ageing activities. Hypothesis 3: Strong welfare states support individual engagement ( crowdingin ). The individual s probability to engage in unpaid productive activities should thus increase with public social expenditures. 5
2004 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE; 50+ in Europe) Wave 1: 11 countries; 30.000 interviews In the last month, have you done voluntary or charity work? provided help to family, friends, or neighbours? cared for a sick or disabled adult? Logistic multilevel models ( random intercept model) Data & Method Controlling for individual characteristics as well as for labour force participation (55-64; in %), Freedomhouse Index of Civil Liberties (0-60) and public social expenditures (% of GDP) at country level 6
Logistic multilevel models (1) Volunteer work Informal help Care s.e. s.e. s.e. Demographic characteristics Sex (female) -0.035 0.022 0.060 ** 0.019 0.202 ** 0.027 Age 50-64 a 0-0 - 0 - Age 65-74 age gradient -0.028 0.029-0.290 ** 0.025-0.118 ** 0.036 Age 75 + -0.282 ** 0.037-0.678 ** 0.032-0.138 ** 0.043 Living with a partner 0.026 0.025-0.008 0.021 0.042 0.030 Socio-economic characteristics (Self-)Employed -0.237 ** 0.031-0.059 * 0.026-0.047 0.037 Not (self-)employed -0.039 0.031-0.107 ** 0.026-0.021 0.036 Retired a 0-0 - 0 - Low education a 0-0 - 0 - Medium education educ. gradient 0.153 ** 0.025 0.138 ** 0.021 0.149 ** 0.030 High education 0.454 ** 0.027 0.204 ** 0.024 0.189 ** 0.035 Health characteristics Self-perceived general health ( fair or worse ) -0.194 ** 0.025-0.259 ** 0.021-0.059 * 0.030 Two or more chronic diseases 0.042 0.023 0.111 ** 0.020 0.022 0.028 Symptoms of depression -0.113 ** 0.027 0.009 0.023 0.189 ** 0.030 Productive activities Volunteer work - - 0.393 ** 0.025 0.441 ** 0.032 Informal help 0.361 ** 0.023 - - 0.547 ** 0.027 complementary Care 0.503 ** 0.035 0.674 ** 0.033 - - Country groups Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden 0.308 ** 0.025 0.372 ** 0.022-0.060 0.032 Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland 0-0 - 0 - Greece, Italy, Spain -0.161 ** 0.026-0.077 ** 0.022-0.033 0.031 Constant -1.265 ** 0.054-0.827 ** 0.046-2.156 ** 7 0.068 Pseudo-R 2 0.091 0.097 0.080
Logistic multilevel models (2) Volunteer work Informal help Care OR rho OR rho OR rho empty model -.15** -.10** -.04**... & individual characteristics -.11** -.08** -.02**... & LFP 55-64 1.02**.09** 1.02**.07** 1.00.02**... & Civil Liberties Index... & social expenditures 1.14**.06** 1.12**.04** 1.01.02** 1.16**.05** 1.16**.02** 1.04.01** 8
Results I Differences between countries regarding elders participation in unpaid productive activities higher levels of engagement in Northern Europe, lower ones in Mediterranean countries can be attributed partially to differences in population composition. Macro-level variables contribute to explaining between-context variance at country level the higher a country scores on the Civil Liberties Index and the greater its proportion of public social expenditures (in % of GDP), the greater is older individuals propensity to engage in formal volunteering and informal helping. If the productive potentials of ageing populations shall be exploited to a greater extent than today, supportive welfare state measures are necessary: activation & sustainability! 9
Country Dynamics of volunteering in older Europeans Active Active Active Inactive Active in in in either Wave 1 b Wave 2 b wave c active c inactive c Sweden 17.8 21.0 28.6 12.0 38.0 Denmark 17.4 21.3 30.9 13.5 37.8 Germany 10.1 12.9 20.9 8.4 44.0 Netherlands 20.8 25.6 34.1 12.4 32.3 Belgium 15.5 16.9 23.4 7.3 35.1 France 14.1 15.5 23.2 7.4 44.5 Switzerland 14.5 16.8 25.5 11.3 50.5 Austria 8.3 9.6 15.5 6.3 65.5 Italy 6.8 8.4 11.9 4.6 53.0 Spain 2.4 2.6 4.4 1.9 55.9 Greece 2.9 2.2 3.8 0.8 64.6 All countries 10.0 10.8 20.0 7.2 41.4 10 Source: SHARE 2004-2007 (Waves 1 & 2); own calculations.
Gender (female) Cohort 1940-54 (ref.) Cohort 1930-39 Cohort 1929 or older Low education (ref.) Medium education High education Partner, cont. (ref.) Partner, never Single - partner Partner - single Employed, cont. (ref.) Retired, cont. Not employed, cont. Employed - retired Not employed - retired Retired / not employed - employed Very good or better health, cont. (ref.) Very good or better health, never Health improvement Health deterioration "High" participation country Determinants of taking-up voluntary work (β-coeff.) -1,20-1,00-0,80-0,60-0,40-0,20 0,00 0,20 0,40 0,60 0,80 "Medium" participation country (ref.) "Low" particiaption country 11
Gender (female) Cohort 1940-54 (ref.) Cohort 1930-39 Cohort 1929 or older Low education (ref.) Medium education High education Partner, cont. (ref.) Partner, never Single - partner Partner - single Employed, cont. (ref.) Retired, cont. Not employed, cont. Employed - retired Not employed - retired Retired / not employed - employed Very good or better health, cont. (ref.) Very good or better health, never Health improvement Health deterioration "High" participation country Determinants of giving-up voluntary work (β-coeff.) -0,60-0,40-0,20 0,00 0,20 0,40 0,60 0,80 "Medium" participation country (ref.) "Low" particiaption country 12
Results II Cross-sectional analyses underestimate the prevalence of civic engagement across individuals life-course: between 2004 and 2007 at least one out of five (!) SHARE respondents volunteered. Dynamics of volunteering at older ages are determined by timeconstant (e.g. education) and time-varying (e.g. health) individual resources. Dynamics of volunteering vary across countries & regions: In contexts characterized by opportunity structures fostering volunteering cross-sectionally (e.g. Scandinavia) we also find the greatest propensity to get involved in new voluntary activities and to be active continuously. Thank you! 13