The life expectancy of human beings continues to increase. While this is good news for the individual, it does cause difficulties for the pension system. This is why experts as well as some politicians call for the retirement age to be raised further. However, the actual duration of working life is determined only in part by the retirement age defined by the government. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research are exploring the impact of other factors such as profession, gender, level of education and the economic situation. Analogous to life expectancy, they strive to estimate the working life expectancy based on these aspects.