National economy Just under a quarter continue to work after retirement age

People who reach retirement age do not automatically stop working. According to a study by the insurance group Swiss Life, almost a quarter of retirees continue to work.

According to the analysis published on Wednesday, this corresponds to around 190,000 people who are still working after the new reference age of 65. The proportion has thus remained stable at a high level for years. In neighboring countries and other Western European countries, on the other hand, the proportion of people of retirement age in employment has been rising for years.

Why it has stagnated in Switzerland is unclear, says study author Andreas Christen. In his opinion, one of the reasons could be that pension systems abroad have created stronger incentives to continue working in recent years.

Another possible explanation is the relatively high level of immigration in this country over the last two decades. This may have led to companies in Switzerland having to make less of an effort to recruit older workers.

Without financial need

What is certain, however, is that most people of retirement age only work part-time. According to the study, the average workload is around 46 percent. In addition, a good half of those aged 65 to 70 are self-employed or work in a family business. By comparison, this figure is only 20 percent for 55 to 59-year-olds.

Financial incentives only play a secondary role. 70 percent of those working after retirement age stated that they continue to work because they enjoy their work. Only around a third emphasized the financial benefits.

Half would - half don't want to

However, it also remains clear that if the respondents were "free from constraints", a good half (55%) would give up work completely before the age of 65. On the other hand, just under half would be prepared to work longer "under certain conditions". According to Christen, these include a good working atmosphere or appreciation from the employer.

However, financial aspects such as a higher pension (38%) or the opportunity to reduce the workload (35%) were also frequently mentioned as conditions for continuing to work. "The willingness to continue working after retirement age depends, among other things, on the self-perceived work and health situation," explains Christen.

For example, there are clear differences between occupational groups and company size. While just over half of professionals with an office job would be more willing to work at retirement age, two thirds of the "blue collar workers" or healthcare professionals surveyed ruled this out.

In addition, the willingness to continue working is higher in a company with a maximum of nine employees. In contrast, people in a company with more than 250 employees are unlikely to be persuaded to take late retirement.