working schedules. Between 2007 and 2019, over 100 countries undertook significant reform of employment regulations, including on fixed-term contracts, severance payments, annual leave, and working-time arrangements, but there is no evidence regarding the impact on employment for mature workers.<sup>126</sup>

**Tax reform can reduce disincentives to work** . This is especially the case for workers with a larger reserve labor supply, typically women, less-educated workers, and mature workers.<sup>127</sup> OECD countries (Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, among others) have introduced tax credits, in some cases with the credit increasing with the age of the worker. Tax credit reform linked to pension reform increased participation among mature workers in Sweden, except for self-employed and higher-earning workers, among whom the “slack” may be smaller.<sup>128</sup>

Improving access to quality services

# **Subsidizing child- or other forms of care for family members can improve labor market participation**

**and earnings outcomes** . Affordable childcare or long-term care for sick and elderly persons can relieve mature workers from informal care burdens and help them manage personal and professional commitments. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a lottery was used to allocate public center-based daycare to households. Access to daycare centers was associated with sustainable increases in household income, due to grandparents’ increased labor income. Grandparents’ earnings, likelihood of employment, hours worked, and social security contributions increased measurably.<sup>129</sup> This positive association between care services and participation is consistent with research on the impact on women’s labor market outcomes of different forms of childcare provision in Latin America, Russia, and the EU, where studies have found strong effects on activation, employment, and hours worked.<sup>130</sup>

A quasi-experimental study in Spain focused on the implementation of successive care-subsidy reforms, involving cash subsides as well as care services. It concluded that changes in care subsidies had a stronger effect on early retirement decisions than reforms tightening options for early retirement.<sup>131</sup>

**Safer transportation helps vulnerable groups access jobs** . In Lima, Peru, an improved urban transport system led to significant gains in employment and earnings for women (but not for men). This demonstrates that infrastructure investments that make it more convenient and safer to use public transport can generate important labor market impacts for groups that are more vulnerable to personal safety threats during travel, that have care obligations that compel them to work closer to home, and that rely heavily on efficient transport modes.<sup>132</sup> Better transportation is similarly likely to improve mobility for mature workers who depend on public transportation but who may also be vulnerable when commuting.

> 126 Kuddo 2018 and World Bank 2019.

> 127 Meghir and Phillips 2010.

> 128 Laun 2017.

> 129 Attanasio et al. 2017.

> 130 Mateo Diaz and Rodriguez-Chamussy 2016, Del Boca and Locatelli 2006, World Bank 2017.

> 131 Costa-Font and Vilaplana-Prieto 2022. Cash subsidies can have both positive and negative effects on caregivers’ labor force participation, as income effects may reduce participation.

> 132 Martinez et al. 2019.

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