One in Three Dutch Workers Cuts Hours Before Retirement, Study Finds

Using longitudinal data from the NIDI Pension Panel, researchers followed 1,704 Dutch employees aged 60 to 63 at baseline to see who planned to reduce working hours before reaching the state pension age, and who actually did so.

The results, published in the European Journal of Ageing, show that roughly one in four employees in the sample planned to reduce their work hours before the state pension age, while about one third eventually reduced them.

The study used ordinal and binary multilevel logistic regression models to test who plans and who enacts hour reductions. One of its central questions was whether employees in demanding situations—those facing high job pressure, chronic health conditions, or caregiving duties—are more likely to scale back, as policymakers who promote phased retirement might expect.

The answer was only partly yes. Older workers who experienced high job pressure were indeed more likely to reduce their work hours, and this was especially true when their employer offered a formal work hour reduction arrangement. In other words, job strain translated into reduced hours mainly when the workplace made such a step practically possible.

By contrast, chronic health conditions and caregiving burden were not associated with planned or actual working hour reductions. In this Dutch sample, the pressure of the job itself, rather than health or care demands, was what distinguished those who reduced their hours.

The availability of work hour reduction arrangements emerged as the key enabling factor. When such arrangements existed in a company, older employees were more likely to reduce their hours overall. Yet the authors note that these arrangements facilitate reductions for some—but not all—employees in demanding situations, meaning that access alone does not guarantee that every strained worker can act on it.

The findings matter for policies aimed at extending working lives. Such policies pose particular challenges for older workers with high job demands, caregiving duties, and health problems, and facilitating work hour reductions in the years before retirement has been proposed as a way to keep them attached to the labour force. This study suggests that offering formal reduction arrangements is a meaningful lever, but one whose benefits are unevenly distributed across workers in different demanding situations.

Because the analysis covers Dutch employees aged 60 to 63 at baseline, the patterns describe a specific national pension context, and the authors discuss how such arrangements contribute to sustainable ageing rather than claiming effects beyond this setting.

Subject of Research: Preretirement work hour reduction plans and behaviours among older Dutch employees

Article Title: Who reduces work hours before retirement? A longitudinal study on plans and behaviours in the Netherlands

Article References: Marabini, C., Damman, M., & Henkens, K. (2026). Who reduces work hours before retirement? A longitudinal study on plans and behaviours in the Netherlands. European Journal of Ageing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-026-00940-x

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s10433-026-00940-x

Keywords: work hour reduction, retirement, older workers, Netherlands, longitudinal study, job pressure, caregiving, chronic health conditions, sustainable ageing, pension panel, reduces, work