The Retirement Life Course in America at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century

As the baby boom cohorts expand the number of U.S. retirees, population estimates of the employment, withdrawal and reentry behaviors of older Americans’ remain scarce. How long do people work? How frequently is retirement reversed? How many years are people retired? What is the modal age of retirement? And, how do the patterns for women compare to those for men? Using the 1992–2004 Health and Retirement Study, we estimate multistate working life tables to update information on the age-graded regularities of the retirement life course of men and women in the United States. We find that at age 50 men can expect to spend half of their remaining lives working for pay, while women can expect to spend just one-third. Half of all men and women have left the labor force by ages 63 and 61, respectively. Although the majority of retirement exits are final, variation in the nature and duration of the retirement process is substantial, as about a third of men’s and women’s exits are reversed. By quantifying these patterns for men and women, we provide a sound empirical basis for evaluating policy designed to address the financial pressures population aging places on public and private pension systems.     

Women's transitions in the labour market: a competing risks analysis on German panel data

This paper analyses the transitions between the three states of non-employment, part-time and full-time work of a sample of married women living in West Germany. The questions addressed concern the dynamics of women's labour market transitions and the association of the probability of transition with household and individual characteristics. A non-parametric duration analysis shows that women have a similar attachment to full-time and part-time work in terms of survival, and that survival in non-employment is shorter than in the other two states. Estimates of a parametric discrete-time competing risks duration model show that wives of retired husbands go into full-time work, children under 3 years have a disincentive effect on part-time work and that part-time work is a state that German women prefer to stay in and not a first step to full-time employment, whereas foreign women living in West Germany prefer full-time jobs.I thank Rebecca Blank, John F. Ermisch, Siv Gustafsson, John Micklewright, Pravin Trivedi, Jane Waldfogel and two anonymous referees for helpful discussions and comments, and Hans-Peter Blossfeld for providing access to these data through his research project at the European University Institute of Florence. Responsible editors: Siv S. Gustafsson, John F. Ermisch     

Transition into Retirement Affects Life Satisfaction: Short- and Long-Term Development Depends on Last Labor Market Status and Education

The effect of retirement on life satisfaction is a research topic that received a lot of attention, yet provided heterogeneous results. The current study suggests a remedy for this situation by taking two predictors of diversity (i.e. education and last labor market status) into account. We assumed that changes in social status and changes in resources influence retirement adjustment. The social status change affects retirees in the short-term, whereas individuals’ resources indicated by education predict long-term adjustment. To disentangle these processes, we contrasted exits from full-time employment and transitions from unemployment. We used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel to estimate a multi-group, multi-episodes dual change score model. The development of life satisfaction is lastingly interrupted by retirement. A short-term increase in life satisfaction was found for both transition groups but was more pronounced for those being previously unemployed. Life satisfaction develops in the long-term education-specific: retirees who have more education show almost constant life satisfaction whereas those retirees who have less education experience a decline. The results indicate that retirement entails a major change in the way people live. Adjustment to this can be characterized by two processes: A status change enfolds in the short-term. A building of new daily routines using individuals’ resources develops in the long-term. Both processes can be interpreted in terms of cumulative inequality: last labor market status differences decrease in the short-term but remain. Educational differences increase after retirement.     

Going Back Part-time: Family Leave Legislation and Women’s Return to Work

Using a multinomial logit model with data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this paper tests whether the implementation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is associated with an increase in return to work at part-time status among first-time mothers working full-time during their pregnancy. I find a statistically significant trend of increasingly higher odds of returning to work at part-time status relative to return at full-time status, beginning in 1993 (the year in which the FMLA is implemented). Furthermore, an additional week of either state or federal leave is significantly associated with a higher odds of return at part-time status. This article provides evidence that job protection and leave legislation may help facilitate higher levels of labor force participation among women with small children, through more flexible work arrangements.     

Quality of life in retirement: A case study of Zulu return migrants

The quality of late life in technologically advanced societies has been well-researched. In contrast, very little systematic research has been conducted among the aged in less developed societies. An interesting case of retirement in a society in transition is that of returning Zulu contract workers. The apartheid laws of South Africa constrain migrant movements: contract workers typically spend their working lives in the urban-industrial milieu of the core economy and later return to a rural lifestyle in their areas of origin in the peripheral “homelands”. The retirement circumstances of 253 male return migrants in five rural areas of KwaZulu were assessed in an in-depth study. The subjective well-being of the Zulu retirees was found to be influenced mainly by such factors as health, perceived financial security, social activity and participation, and positive sentiment towards retirement life. The conclusion is drawn that migrant workers’ needs in retirement have a universal quality. This finding has social welfare policy implications in a society which is characterised by unequal distribution of privilege.     

劳动力市场“退出援助”方式与政策探析

做好困难群体的再就业工作,并不意味着人人都能重新上岗。由于某些原因,现有劳动力人口中的一部分目前仍滞留各地再就业中心的大龄下岗困难职工,将可能永远无法再回到社会主导产业中去,或找到稳定的就业机会。所以,可否考虑在利用“积极劳动力市场政策”提供岗位援助,为其创造“边缘性”就业机会的同时;利用“消极劳动力市场政策”提供保障援助,重点做好社会保险的接续工作,帮助这部分特殊就业困难群体逐渐、直至完全退出劳动力市场就业竞争,实现“下岗”向“退休”的平稳过渡。     

Changes in the retirement process among older men in the United States: 1972–1980

Recent changes in older men's retirement patterns are investigated for the United States. The results show that labor force incumbents, particularly those in secondary occupations, experienced increases in the volume of both retirement and reentry to the labor force. In addition, although working life expectancy remained relatively stable across occupations, men in secondary occupations spent increasingly greater portions of their work lives in postretirement jobs. Finally, large increases in nonworking life expectancy occurred because of substantial increases in life expectancy. In several occupations, however, declines in working life expectancy were major contributors to increases in nonworking life expectancy.     

健康冲击、基本医疗保险与老年人“退而不休”

在我国进入深度老龄化、劳动力供给不足的背景下,探究健康以及基本医疗保险对老年人退而不休的影响对未来合理有效开发老年人力资源具有重要意义。本文使用四期CHARLS数据将健康冲击、医疗保险与老年人退而不休放在一个统一的分析框架中,分别考察了健康冲击、新农合以及城镇职工医疗保险对老年人退而不休的影响,并进一步探究了医疗保险对老年人退而不休影响的健康异质性。结果表明:健康冲击对老年人退而不休意愿和劳动时间均有显著正向促进效应,且对劳动时间的影响有明显城乡差异,对农村地区影响更大。新农合会明显激励农村老年人选择退而不休,发生比率提高为未参合时的3.59倍,但会降低劳动时间,全年平均减少了21.21天;而城镇职工医疗保险对老年人退而不休意愿没有显著影响,但会增加劳动时间,全年平均增加了13.92天,且对劳动时间供给更多的个体,其激励效应逐渐减弱。同时,医疗保险对老年人退而不休的影响还存在性别差异,其中新农合对女性退而不休意愿影响更大,但对劳动时间并没有显著的性别差异;而职工医疗保险对女性退而不休意愿、对男性劳动时间影响更大。此外,本文还发现医疗保险对老年人退而不休的影响存在健康异质性,对健康变差的群体影响更大。     

Dual tracks: part-time work in life-cycle employment for British women

Forty percent of working women in the UK work part-time; does part-time work support a woman’s labour market career or frustrate it? Cohort data on women’s labour market involvement to age 42 show highly varied pathways through full-time/part-time/non-employment. Part-time work can be part of two different pathways in women’s labour supply for persistent workers and marginal workers. A history of full-time work, even including part-time or non-employment spells, tends to lead back to full-time work, indicating that part-time work supports a career. However, part-time work combined with non-employment is a trap against the resumption of full-time work.     

Retirement decisions in a discrete choice model and implications for the government budget The case of Belgium

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of the retirement decision of the elderly in Belgium. The model used is an extension of the participation model. It offers three choices: full-time work, part-time work and retirement. A CES-utility function is maximised over this opportunity set. Estimation was done on two separate samples for men and women. Using the estimation results, the financial consequences of some policy changes in the social security system are calculated.The author is indebted to A. Decoster, E. Schokkaert, P. Van Rompuy and two anonymous referees for carefully reading and commenting this paper. The remaining errors are of course entirely the author's responsibility.     

Gender Differences in Mental Health Before and After Retirement:

A longitudinal research design was used to examine the relationship between retirement and mental health among 222 retirees (114 men and 108 women) at three different time periods: (I) at preretirement; (2) six months; and (3) one year later. Gender differences in the expression of symptoms, especially psychological anxiety, drinking problems, and health, were found across all three time periods. Retirement resulted in increases in drinking problems and psychological anxiety for both men and women. Intervention strategies are discussed and recommended based on how retirees experience symptoms. Gerontologists must recognize how significantly gender and retirement impact on the mental health of older persons and consider these factors in their practice.     

Anticipation of Retirement Among Baby Boomers

ABSTRACT

A total of 32 interviews were conducted with women in academia who were born between 1946 and 1964. Twenty-one of these interviews were completed with academic women in the United States. and eleven with academic women in New Zealand. The data were analyzed to determine what these “baby boomers” anticipate for their retirement as well as their concerns about facing retirement. Cohort and cross-cultural comparisons were made. The authors identified common themes in the interviews. These included rejection of the traditional definition of retirement, anticipated age at retirement determined by personal needs rather than age-graded societal norms, retirement projected to be an active period involving a mix of work and leisure activities, and major concerns, about health and health care, the availability of entitlements and finances. The findings from this study indicate baby boomers are forging a new path for retirement. Further research investigating the transition for women of the baby boom generation from worker to retiree may open windows into the future of retirement for women.     

The skills and autonomy of female part-time work in Britain and Sweden

Most OECD countries have experienced an increase of female part-time employment in the last decades. It has been argued that part-time work may give greater employment flexibility, enabling mothers to reconcile conflicting demands of family and work and thereby facilitating their integration into the wage economy. At the same time, it has been suggested that female part-time work implies segmentation of the labour force into a core and a periphery, with marginalized, low qualified jobs for part-time employees. However, little attention has been given to the possible mediating effect of the institutional context on potential job quality disadvantages of part-timers. We examine this question by comparing the skills and autonomy of female part-time workers in two countries, Britain and Sweden, often considered as representing quite distinct forms of institutional regime. The results show that female part-time employees in Sweden hold positions of higher skill and have more autonomy compared to their equivalents in Britain. Even so, both British and Swedish part-time employees face relative disadvantage when compared to female full-time workers. We conclude that differences in the institutional systems of Sweden and Britain do have a significant effect on the absolute skill level of part-time work. However, the relative disadvantage of part-timers persists despite Swedish policies giving greater salience to improvements in the quality of work.     

Poverty and Income Replacement Profile Among EPF Retiree in Malaysia

Social security policies often focus on replacement rates, which indicate retirement income or social security benefits in relation to preretirement income. The higher replacement rate among the pensioners would ensure that the ageing society would have sufficient income to lead a normal life after retirement. This study examined factors that influencing the income replacement rate of Malaysian Employee Provident Fund (EPF) retirees. The analysis was based on a nationwide survey conducted in 2013–2014 among EPF retiree. A logit model was used to evaluate the likelihood of selected socio-demographic and economic factors contributing to income of the retirees. The results indicated that around 62 % of elderly has lower retirement income compared to their preretirement income and it makes them more vulnerable to unpredictable events and financial conditions. The study suggested that the income replacement rate of elderly could be strengthened by investing in ageing workforce, raising retirement age, enhancing educational achievements of low income groups and restructuring employment. These may in turn increase the availability of skilled workers, enhancing the national productivity, increase the income security of retirees, reduce poverty, and develop economic growth of the country.     

Anticipation of retirement among baby boomers

A total of 32 interviews were conducted with women in academia who were born between 1946 and 1964. Twenty-one of these interviews were completed with academic women in the United States. and eleven with academic women in New Zealand. The data were analyzed to determine what these "baby boomers" anticipate for their retirement as well as their concerns about facing retirement. Cohort and cross-cultural comparisons were made. The authors identified common themes in the interviews. These included rejection of the traditional definition of retirement, anticipated age at retirement determined by personal needs rather than age-graded societal norms, retirement projected to be an active period involving a mix of work and leisure activities, and major concerns, about health and health care, the availability of entitlements and finances. The findings from this study indicate baby boomers are forging a new path for retirement. Further research investigating the transition for women of the baby boom generation from worker to retiree may open windows into the future of retirement for women.     

The Search for Happiness: Work Experiences and Quality of Life of Older Taiwanese Men

Taiwan’s pension systems do not always ensure corresponding benefits for those who have achieved their career goals in labor markets, thus retirement decisions are often difficult for the majority of its citizens. Retirement is not only a social institution shaped by labor market and social welfare policy, but also a process affected by personal life chance and family situations, and therefore influences their citizen’s well-being. While scholars have maintained that retirees’ happiness is related to earlier life experiences, there is little empirical evidence that explains this relationship. This paper investigates the midlife work experiences and the resources workers acquired to determine the extent to which they affect the happiness of retirees. Data for examining study hypotheses are drawn from four waves of the Taiwan Longitudinal Survey on Aging. The results indicate that midlife work experiences exert significant influences on life satisfaction, and also play a moderate role on the relationship between seniors’ resources and their life satisfaction. Bridge employment is found to have varying effects on seniors’ life satisfaction depending on their occupation. We conclude that the happiness of older Taiwanese men is mainly a product of both their present situations and their recollections of their earlier occupational experiences.     

Gender Differences in Retirement Planning Among Educators:

Genger differences in amount of retirement financial planning were examined among 3,064 retirees from a major state retirement system. Significant gender differences were found in amount of personal financial planning, perceived adequacy of planning and attendance at retirement workshops with women planning less than men. Factors most important for retirement planning among women are identified and intervention strategies for practitioners to help women better prepare for retirement are suggested.     

Part-time jobs: what women want?

Part-time jobs are common among partnered women in many countries. There are two opposing views on the efficiency implications of so many women working part-time. The negative view is that part-time jobs imply wastage of resources and underutilization of investments in human capital since many part-time working women are highly educated. The positive view is that, without the existence of part-time jobs, female labor force participation would be substantially lower since women confronted with the choice between a full-time job and zero working hours would opt for the latter. In the Netherlands, the majority of partnered working women have a part-time job. Our paper investigates, from a supply-side perspective, if the current situation of abundant part-time work in the Netherlands is likely to be a transitional phase that will culminate in many women working full-time. Our main results indicate that partnered women in part-time work have high levels of job satisfaction, a low desire to change their working hours, and live in partnerships in which household production is highly gendered. Taken together, our results suggest that part-time jobs are what most Dutch women want.