Later-life Employment Preferences and Outcomes: The Role of Mid-life Work Experiences

The Country That Never Retires: The Gendered Pathways to Retirement in South Korea

Objectives

Among all Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, South Korean older adults work until the latest age. We investigate the extent to which work experiences over the life course and family circumstances can be associated with older workers’ incentives to remain in the labor force beyond the statutory pension age. We explore gender-specific patterns of labor force exit and labor force re-entry in later life.

Methods

Using panel data of South Korean older workers and retirees from 2006 to 2016, we estimate multilevel discrete-time models with random effects to predict their labor force transition process that unfolds over time.

Results

Results show that skilled manual workers are less likely to exit employment and more likely to re-enter the labor force. A longer history of self-employment is related to later retirement. The relationship between career characteristics and the risk of retirement is only significant for men. Late-aged employment transition among women appears to be more related to family conditions. Women who receive financial support from adult offspring are more likely to remain out of the labor force but this relationship is not pronounced among men.

Discussion

Policies aimed at extending working lives need to provide various types of social support to older job seekers, especially those who had low-class jobs and those without family networks.

Invisible Scars or Open Wounds? The Role of Mid-career Income for the Gender Pension Gap in Sweden

This study investigates the importance of mid-career income for the gender pension gap and psychological scarring effects of low income earlier in life. More specifically we analyse whether women's typically less stable mid-life careers also affect outcomes in late careers and in retirement. Swedish income register data from 1990, 2009, and 2015 was linked to the "HEalth, Ageing, and Retirement Transitions in Sweden" survey. The gender pension gap of 966 retirees and worries about pension income of 2,723 older workers between the age of 60 and 66 years were investigated. Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions were applied to analyse the gender pension gap and linear regressions were used for the analysis of financial worries. Results show that gender differences in mid-career income play a stronger role for the gender pension gap than late career income. Mid-career income is furthermore related to higher worries about pension income and accounts for observed gender differences. Our findings demonstrate that gender gaps in mid-career income can be regarded as an open wound with visible negative effects in older ages. The reformed pension system in Sweden may potentially contribute to an even greater gender gap in pensions.

Who does not intend to retire? Mothers' opportunity costs and compensation at later ages in Europe

Research investigating the association between women's work–family trajectories and their retirement intentions is limited. Studies considering how different institutional conditions affect this association are even more limited. To fill this gap, we use the first three waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, 2004–2009, and apply two-level random effects models with country-level fixed effects to a sample of mothers aged 50–64 years. Our dependent variable is the intention to retire as early as possible. We found that the following two different mechanisms are associated with mothers' early retirement intentions: (a) strategies to compensate for opportunity costs and (b) work attachment. When all other factors are equal, mothers with a work career characterised by interruptions and part-time work intend to work longer than other mothers, indicating the need to compensate for lower lifelong earnings at older ages. Some compensatory strategies are also observed among mothers who are classified as ‘never married’, ‘divorced’ or ‘widowed’, who wish to continue their careers. In other cases, evidence supporting work attachment mechanisms is found; for instance, working when the youngest child is younger than six years predicts the intention to delay retirement. These results change according to the welfare regime, underlining the importance of family policies and pension benefits to counterbalance the effect of opportunity costs on mothers' earnings.

[How successful are older employees in the timely implementation of retirement plans? : Social differences in concordance between planned and realized retirement age]

BACKGROUND

Retirement age limits of the pension system provide guidelines for the individual planning of retirement from employment. Empirical evidence shows that individual exit plans of older employees only delay and partly follow the raising of the retirement age by the statutory pension insurance; however, it is unclear how well the retirement plans of older employees predict the actual transition behavior and which individuals are able or unable to implement their own plans.

OBJECTIVE

Therefore, this article addresses the concordances and discrepancies between the planned and the actual age of retiring from work of older employees. Gender-specific, qualification-specific and east-west differences in the probability of retiring earlier or later than planned were examined with respect to social and regional differences of realization chances.

DATA AND METHODS

Longitudinal data of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) were used and the planned age to stop working of the 55 to 61-year-old employees (survey year 2008) were compared with their labor status in 2014 and their actual age of retirement from work. An empirical typology of temporal correspondence or discrepancy of plan and reality of the retirement were generated. Applying logistic regression analysis several theses on social and regional differences in fulfilling the transition plans were empirically tested.

RESULTS

Original timing plans to stop or continue working were achieved by the majority of respondents. During the 6‑year observation period approximately half of the older employees realized their plans with a high agreement of the timing. Retiring earlier than planned was somewhat more frequent than working longer than intended. There was a higher probability to retire earlier and unplanned for low-skilled workers and respondents with health impairments. Women face a higher probability to stay active for longer than planned compared to men.

CONCLUSION

The planned age of exit from employment is a useful indicator for prospective action. Individual plans of older employees on when to retire are not unrealistic wishful thinking but relevant to the actual exit; however, realization of plans is not only at the discretion and control of employees themselves. Developments may occur that necessitate a change from the original plan. Deterioration of health and employment hazards increase the risk of retirement earlier than planned. Conversely, the closing of options for early retirement, such as the elimination of the early pension for women, can lead to a longer stay in employment than originally planned.

Between activity and solidarity: Comprehending retirement and extended working lives in Swedish rural areas

The expected costs of population ageing have generally led to perceived needs to postpone the age of retirement. Drawing on 20 semi-structured interviews, the aim of this paper is to describe the ways that the possibility of an extended working life is comprehended by persons over the age of 60 living in sparsely populated areas in northern Sweden. While defining themselves as active, the interviewees argued strongly in favour of the right to retire. What are often described as opposing retiree subject positions - healthy and active vs. vulnerable and dependent - were partly transgressed in the interviews. The interviewees performed a solidarity that had the potential of including their future selves as possible objects of solidarity. Another important result was that in comprehending the possibility of an extended working life, morally charged notions of geographic place became central.

Career histories as determinants of gendered retirement timing in the Danish and Swedish pension systems

After reforms in pension systems had taken place in most European countries within the last two decades, the concern was raised that women may be disadvantaged by these reforms. It is suggested that they are faced with a higher financial need to work longer. Retrospective data from SHARELIFE are used to run an event history analysis on the timing of the final employment exit, separately for gender, country and exit cohort. This study aims to disentangle the influence of gendered labour markets and pension regulations on retirement timing by investigating conditions in Denmark and Sweden. Some evidence was found that women compensate for lower labour market attachment due to long part-time periods by working longer, especially in younger cohorts. This seems to depend on the pension system. In countries with broad basic pensions, high replacement rates for low-income groups and fewer penalties for early retirement, the compensation is suggested to be less frequent. This study indicates the growing importance of the “compensation hypothesis” compared to the “status maintenance hypothesis” of previous careers in relation with retirement timing.

Gender and Relationship Status Interaction and Likelihood of Return to Work Post-Retirement

Population aging is an issue of mounting importance throughout the industrialized world. Concerns over labour force shortages have led to policies that prolong working life. Accordingly, present-day workforce participation patterns of older individuals are extensively varied. This study utilized the 2007 General Social Survey to examine factors associated with post-retirement paid work, focusing on the interaction between gender and relationship status, among Canadians aged 50 to 74 who had retired at least once. We find that although being in a relationship is associated with a higher likelihood of post-retirement work for men, the opposite is true for women. Our findings suggest that the gendered association between relationship status and post-retirement work results partly from the gendered associations between relationship status and one's motivation for learning and community involvement, career orientation, and sense of independence. Gendered meanings of relationship status are thus revealed through analysis of post-retirement work.

Why are women more likely than men to extend paid work? The impact of work-family life history

Extending working life beyond the state pension age is a key European Union policy. In the UK, women are more likely to extend paid work than men, indicating that factors other than the state pension age play a role in working longer. Women are less able to build pension income due to their role as carer within the family. It, therefore, follows that gender inequalities over the life course continue into older age to influence need, capacity and desire to undertake paid work after state pension age. This paper explores how work, marital and fertility history impact upon the likelihood of extending employment. It uses the British Household Panel Survey's retrospective data from the first 14 waves to summarise work-family histories, and logistic regression to understand the impact of work and family histories on extending paid work. Findings show that, on the one hand, women are extending paid work for financial reasons to make up for 'opportunity costs' as a result of their caring role within the family, with short breaks due to caring, lengthy marriages, divorcing and remaining single with children all being important. Yet, there is also evidence of 'status maintenance' from working life, with the women most likely to extend paid work, also those with the highest work orientation, prior to state pension age. But lengthy dis-attachment (due to caring) from the labour market makes extending working life more difficult. This has implications for policy strategies to entice women into paid work to make up for low independent financial resources.

Inclusion or exclusion? Exploring barriers to employment for low-income older adults

Faced with economic uncertainty and declining retirement security, older adults have increasingly tried to remain in, or return to, the workforce in recent years. Unfortunately, a host of factors, such as ageism and changing skill requirements, present challenges for older adults seeking employment. Low-income older adults, in particular, may lack necessary education and skills and have limited access to job opportunities and training. In this review, we examine factors that inhibit and support employment for low-income older adults and explore the role of social work in facilitating their inclusion in the workforce.

The impact of midlife educational, work, health, and family experiences on men's early retirement

OBJECTIVES

In empirical studies on predictors of retirement, midlife experiences have often remained implicit or been neglected. This study aims to improve our understanding of retirement by examining the impact of midlife educational, work, health, and family experiences on early retirement intentions and behavior. We distinguish theoretically and empirically between financial and nonfinancial preretirement factors through which midlife experiences could affect retirement.

METHODS

Using panel data of 1,229 Dutch male older workers, we estimated linear regression models to explain retirement intentions and logistic regression models to explain retirement behavior.

RESULTS

Midlife experiences in all studied life spheres are related to retirement intentions. Educational investments, job changes, late transitions into parenthood, and late divorces are associated with weaker intentions to retire early. Midlife health problems are related to stronger early retirement intentions. For midlife work and family experiences, the relationships are (partly) mediated by the preretirement financial opportunity structure. In the educational, work, and health spheres, the preretirement nonfinancial situation has a mediating effect. Only some of the predictors of retirement intentions also predicted retirement behavior.

DISCUSSION

Given the destandardization of life courses, information on distal life experiences might become even more important toward understanding retirement in the future.