“I want to break free”. The role of working conditions on retirement expectations and decisions

Abstract

We investigate the role of working conditions on the desire to retire as soon as possible and on the probability of transition from employment to either full or partial retirement, using different measures of work quality. We find that low work quality strongly correlates with the desire to retire as soon as possible of ''young-old'' workers. This might be explained by the deterioration of employer-employee match with age due to reduced incentives for firms to invest in training and work practises that enhance workability of their senior workers. When we move from intentions to decisions, the role of work quality is less clear-cut and it mainly plays a role in the transitions from employment to full retirement.

Working conditions as predictors of retirement intentions and exit from paid employment: a 10-year follow-up of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

“…However, although psychosocial demands were predictive of wanting to retire sooner, they had no influence upon actual exit probabilities. This is consistent with previous studies showing discrepancies between retirement intentions and behaviours (Solem et al 2014; Dal Bianco et al 2015). Workers may be forced to retire earlier than they would like because of poor health or caring responsibilities.…”

Bridge employment and full retirement intentions: the role of person-environment fit

“…The results demonstrated that, unlike other types of fit, demands-abilities fit at the job level positively influenced bridge employment intention and negatively influenced full retirement intention (H3A and H3B). By considering the demands-abilities fit, these findings complement and enrich past research which focused solely on the influence of job characteristics on retirement intentions or behaviors (Elovainio et al, 2005;Boumans et al, 2008;Dal Bianco et al, 2015;Oakman and Wells, 2013;Van Soligne and Henkens, 2014). Those results are also in line with Atchley's (1989) Continuity Theory (Atchley, 1989).…”

Ageing in Southern Europe. Emerging Perspectives and Challenges for Sociology

“…Moreover, comparative analyses have demonstrated that older workers in Southern European countries, compared to Central and Northern countries, tend to report lower levels of self-perceived job quality and higher levels of work stress (Dragano et al, 2011), which in turn influence the relatively early shift to retirement (especially amongst women) (Dal Bianco et al, 2015) and a greater propensity to exhibit depressive symptoms (Dragano et al, 2011).…”