Retiring early

Earlier this year, France increased its legal retirement age by two years from 62 to 64 sparking widespread strikes and riots across the country. The effective retirement age, when workers actually exit the labor market, is likely to remain lower though. It was about 60 in the latest OECD measurement. This is a substantial difference compared to the rest of Europe, Asia and the US where the effective retirement age is 63, 65 and about 67 respectively. Especially in Asia, workers tend to stay in the labor market for much longer than the legal retirement age. As life expectancies rise, the OECD projects a two-year increase in the average effective retirement age in the coming decades across the world.

Source: OECD (2021), CLEISS (2023).