European Policy Analysis Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2016 | Page 86

Policy and Decision to Retire in Central and Eastern European Countries SK SK CZ CZ SI SI BG BG 3.9 0 1.8 2.4 1.7 2.5 5.3 3.8 0.6 0 98.8 96.1 100.0 98.2 97.6 98.3 97.5 94.7 96.3 99.4 100.0 Wanted retire Wanted retire Wanted retire Wanted retire Wanted retire Wanted retire Wanted retire to 1.2 99.7 to 0.3 98.3 to 1.7 96.7 to 3.3 100.0 to 0 96.5 to 3.5 No Preferred to continue in paid work Yes to Preferred to continue in paid work PL Wanted retire PL Preferred to continue in paid work HU Preferred to continue in paid work HU Preferred to continue in paid work EE Preferred to continue in paid work EE Preferred to continue in paid work LT Preferred to continue in paid work LT to Table 1. Wanted to retire and preferred to continue in paid work by the variable “Improve knowledge/skills: course/lecture/conference, last 12 months” (ESS5) Where: W—Wanted to retire; P—Preferred to continue in paid work 100% Not at all important 80% Not very important 60% 40% Fairly important 20% Very important 0% LT LV EE HU PL SK CZ SI BG RO Figure 11. Respondents by the variable “aged 55+ stop working: exclusion from training” (%, Eurobarometer 76.2) The importance of participation in training for working life prolongation is observed from the Eurobarometer 76.2 survey. Exclusion from training can push older employees from the labor market. About 80% of the respondents from the selected countries feel threatened by this (considering the answers “very important” and “fairly important”). The respondents from Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary are especially concerned about being excluded from lifelong learning activities (the respective share of the answers “very important” is 37%, 35%, and 33%). While comparing the two groups of the Eurobarometer survey, participants according to thei r willingness to work or not to work after pension entitlement, the exclusion from training in the older age can be a reason to stop working for Bulgarians, Hungarians, Slovenians, and Romanians (the answers “very important”). In these countries, the significant state supportive policies in the field of promotion of lifelong learning were absent during the analyzed period. The recent crisis brought serious transformations to the structure of the economies in the analyzed countries. However, the structural changes in new EU member states have generally been greater than that in the majority of old EU members with broader shifts from industry toward services (Havlik 2014). 86