This paper studies the impact of raising the eligibility age of early retirement on the re-integration into the labor market of elderly unemployed workers. I exploit two Austrian pension reforms increasing the early retirement age step-wise for different quarter-of-birth cohorts. Empirical results based on Austrian administrative data reveal a substantial gender difference in how unemployed workers are affected by the policy change. While unemployed women only benefit little with shorter unemployment duration, modest higher re-employment probability as well as labor income after unemployment, unemployed men benefit in several aspects: although unemployment duration remains unaffected, re-employment chances, labor income and participation in active labor market policies significantly increase. Elderly unemployed workers closer to their early retirement age are systematically assigned to programs increasing their job application and job search skills, while workers more than five years away from their early retirement age are more likely to participate in programs increasing their skills. The gender difference may be explained by the nature of the pension reforms. From a policy perspective, these results suggest that increasing the early retirement age is not only a feasible way to improve the financial sustainability of public pension systems but also improves the re-integration of elderly unemployed male workers.

本文研究了提高提前退休的资格年龄对老年失业工人重返劳动力市场的影响。我采用了两次奥地利养老金改革，逐步提高了不同出生年龄组的提前退休年龄。基于奥地利行政数据的实证结果表明，政策变化对失业工人的影响存在巨大的性别差异。虽然失业时间短，失业率提高，适度的较高再就业率以及失业后的劳动收入仅使失业妇女受益不大，但失业男子却在以下几个方面受益：尽管失业时间不受影响，再就业机会，劳动收入和参加积极劳动的人市场政策明显增加。较接近退休年龄的失业老年人被系统地分配到计划中，以增加其工作申请和求职技能，而离退休年龄超过五年的工人则更有可能参加提高其技能的计划。性别差异可以用养老金改革的性质来解释。从政策角度来看，这些结果表明，提高提前退休年龄不仅是提高公共养老金系统财务可持续性的可行方法，而且还可以改善老年失业男性工人的重返社会。而距提前退休年龄超过五年的工人更有可能参加提高技能的计划。性别差异可以用养老金改革的性质来解释。从政策角度来看，这些结果表明，提高提前退休年龄不仅是提高公共养老金体系财务可持续性的可行方法，而且还可以改善老年失业男性工人的重返社会。而距提前退休年龄超过五年的工人更有可能参加提高技能的计划。性别差异可以用养老金改革的性质来解释。从政策角度来看，这些结果表明，提高提前退休年龄不仅是提高公共养老金系统财务可持续性的可行方法，而且还可以改善老年失业男性工人的重返社会。