MPIDR Working Paper
Differences in gender pension gaps in public and private pensions in West Germany: what role do work-family life courses play?
MPIDR Working Paper WP-2024-015, 82 pages.
Rostock, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (July 2024)
Abstract
Even though Gender Pension Gaps (GPG) surpass gender wage gaps in most European countries, we know less about how they emerge and relate to gendered life-course inequalities. This study contributes by applying a life-course-sensitive decomposition to linked survey-register data for Germany (SHARE-RV), decomposing gender gaps in public and private pensions based on common work-family life courses. It considers the interdependencies of employment, family life, and earning positions over the life course, relevant due to pension privatization in Europe. GPGs occur because privileged life courses (stable civil servant careers for public and high-income employment for private pensions) yield high pensions but are almost exclusively accessible by fathers. Gender differences in access to high-income careers for parents drive the GPG in private pensions more than the gap in public pensions. The study underscores the future risk of high GPGs given the persistently high Gender Wage Gap and pension privatization in Germany.
Keywords: Germany (Alte Bundesländer), employment, family life cycle, gender, income, life cycle, pension schemes, retirement pensions