To meet the challenges of population ageing, many countries are reforming their pension systems and this often involves raising the age at which workers can retire and claim their pensions. This leads to the policy question whether exceptions should be made for occupations that are considered demanding. In this paper we use unique Dutch survey data to analyze the general public’s opinions on what are demanding occupations, to what extent it is justified that someone with a demanding occupation can retire earlier, and on the willingness to contribute to the earlier retirement schemes of such occupations. Panel data models are used to account for confounding factors affecting the evaluations of the jobs as well as the reasonable retirement age or willingness to pay. We find a consistent ranking among the occupations that we ask the respondents to evaluate: office clerks have the least demanding occupation, followed by teachers, nurses, firemen, and construction workers. There is some evidence that respondents whose own job is similar to the occupation they evaluate find this occupation more demanding than respondents who identify themselves with different occupations. For construction workers this matters less than for less demanding occupations, such as teachers. A less demanding occupation translates in a higher reasonable retirement age and a lower willingness to contribute to an early retirement scheme.