Abstract

Do external conditions at the beginning of life influence later labor market outcomes? Poor conditions at the beginning of life, such as lack of nutrition or stress, can influence health conditions as well as cognitive abilities. It is expected that this in turn will have consequences on employment and productivity throughout the entire life course, and thus also on payments into the statutory pension insurance. The aim of the planned study is to examine the influence of external conditions at the beginning of life on later labor market outcomes, in particular for the ages 55 to 65 years, and on retirement decisions.
In our study we focus on people who were born in the years 1935 to1949 and who are now almost all retired. The reason for this selection is that there was extreme variation in the living conditions (regional as well as over time) in Germany during these years. The corresponding data of the German pension insurance can be combined with detailed data from the Federal Agency for Employment on income and with regional variables.