France: A Country with a Deep Early Exit Culture

Abstract

The transition from work to retirement in France is much simpler than those of other countries where several public and private subsystems have been used to foster early exit. Since the mid-1970s in France, the participation of ageing wage-earners in the labour market has steadily declined. This trend first swept up persons between the ages of 60 and 65, before reaching down into the 55-60 year-old group. In France, the sharpest drop in labour force participation and employment activity rates has been among 55- to 64-year-olds since 1970. France has one of the highest rates of women participating in the labour force in the whole European Union. During the 1980s and 1990s, France experienced high unemployment. In this context, France gave more importance both to making older wage-earners leave the labour market and to putting off the entry of young people into the world of work.

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