Estimating the probability of leaving unemployment for older people in Poland using survival models with censored data

Abstract

Current demographic changes require greater participation of people aged 50 or older in the labour market. Previous research shows that the chances of returning to employment decrease with the length of the unemployment period. In the case of older people who have not reached the statutory retirement age, these chances also depend on the time they have left to retirement. Our study aims to assess the probability of leaving unemployment for people aged 50-71 based on their characteristics and the length of the unemployment period. We use data from the Labour Force Survey for 2019–2020. The key factors determining employment status are identified using the proportional hazard model. We take these factors into account and use the direct adjusted survival curve to show how the probability of returning to work in Poland changes as people age. Due to the fact that not many people take up employment around their retirement age, an in-depth evaluation of the accuracy of predictions obtained via the models is crucial to assess the results. Hence, in this paper, a time-dependent ROC curve is used. Our results indicate that the key factor that influences the return to work after an unemployment period in the case of older people in Poland is whether they reached the age of 60. Other factors that proved important in this context are the sex and the education level of older people.