Over the last two decades, social security reforms in several European countries have turned early retirement routes for older workers increasingly difficult. The size of the effects of these reforms on labour supply and social security transfers, and how these effects interact with workers’ characteristics have yet to be measured. This article sheds light on this issue by exploring the consequences of postponing access to an old-age unemployment programme—from age 58 to 60—in Belgium. The programme provides laid-off workers with a combination of unemployment benefits and a monthly supplement paid by the employer until the full retirement age. Exploiting register data on the universe of workers and using a difference-in-difference identification strategy, the authors find that UCS eligibility negatively affects employment participation but also mitigates older workers’ participation in other social security programmes.

过去二十年来，几个欧洲国家的社会保障改革使老年工人的提前退休之路变得越来越困难。这些改革对劳动力供给和社会保障转移的影响有多大，以及这些影响如何与工人的特征相互作用，还有待衡量。本文通过探讨比利时推迟享受老年失业计划（从 58 岁推迟到 60 岁）的后果，阐明了这个问题。该计划为下岗工人提供失业救济金和雇主每月支付的补助金，直至达到完全退休年龄。作者利用工人群体的登记数据并使用双重差异识别策略，发现 UCS 资格会对就业参与产生负面影响，但也会减少老年工人对其他社会保障计划的参与。