Centre for Policy on Ageing



Pathways to labor force exit — work transitions and work instability
Author(s)	Jan E Mutchler, Jeffrey A Burr, Amy M Pienta
Journal title	The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 52B, no 1, January 1997
Pages	pp S4-S12
Keywords	Preparation [retirement] ; Life span ; Employment ; Transitional phase ; Retirement ; Conditions of employment ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	This study aims to examine the alternative routes to leaving the labour force taken by older men. Based on the life course perspective, the distinction is made between crisp exits from the labour force (characterised as unidirectional), and blurred transition patterns which include repeated exits, entrances and unemployment spells. Using longitudinal data from the 1984 US Survey of Income and Program Participation, it was found that a quarter of the sample of men aged 55 to 74 at first interview experienced at least one transition in labour force status over a 28-month observation period. Fewer than half of these can be characterised as crisp exits from the labour force. Multivariate analysis suggests that blurred transition patterns are likely to be part of an effort to maintain economic status in later life.
Accession Number	CPA-980227011 A
Classmark	GA: BG6: WJ: 4MT: G3: WKA: 3J: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.