Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Migration and retirement in the life course: an event history approach

  • Published:
Journal of Population Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Migration at older ages is commonly explained by reference to the search for greater amenity, and subsequently by the onset of greater dependency, but the links between mobility and specific life course transitions have rarely been articulated. We aim to establish the timing of migration in relation to retirement from the labour force, and to determine how its intensity varies around the retirement event. We also seek to identify how household and individual characteristics shape the propensity and timing of migration, differentiating moves according to distance and with particular attention to the characteristics of the spouse. Data are drawn from the first six waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, a nationally representative panel study covering the period 2001–2006. Migration events are identified relative to retirement and event history methods are employed to establish the characteristics predisposing households to relocate around retirement. Results demonstrate that retirement acts as a trigger to migration but the propensity to move falls as retirement age rises and the hazard is increasingly concentrated in the year retirement occurs. Within this framework the presence, health, education and retirement status of a spouse exert a significant influence on the likelihood of migration, though with different effects for long and short distance moves. Results highlight the importance of variations in underlying life-course trajectories in shaping retirement migration and demonstrate that only a minority of moves at ages 55–69 are directly associated with retirement, underlining the need for caution when identifying retirement migration using age as a proxy measure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. see http://melbourneinstitute.com/hilda/biblio/.

References

  • Allison, P. D. (1984). Event history analysis: Regression for longitudinal event data. Newbury Park: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, M., Blake, M., Boyle, P., Duke-Williams, O., Rees, P., Stillwell, J., & Hugo, G. (2002). Cross-national comparison of internal migration: Issues and measures. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society A, 165(3), 435–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, M., & Hugo, G. (2000). Internal migration in Australia 1991–1996: Overview and the overseas-born. Canberra: Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggar, J. C. (1980). Who moved among the elderly, 1965–1970: A comparison of types of older movers. Research on Ageing, 2, 73–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyle, P., Cooke, T. J., Halfacree, K., & Smith, D. (2001). A cross-national comparison of the impact of family migration on women’s employment status. Demography, 38, 201–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyle, P. J., Kulu, H., Cooke, T., Gayle, V., & Mulder, C. H. (2008). Moving and union dissolution. Demography, 45, 209–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, D. E. (2011). Litwak and Longino’s developmental model of later-life migration: Evidence from the American Community Survey, 2005–2007. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 30(2), 141–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, D. E., Longino, C. F., Stoller, E. P., & Haas, W. H. (2008). Actuation of mobility intentions among the young-old: An event-history analysis. The Gerontologist, 48(2), 190–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bures, R. M. (1997). Migration and the life course: Is there a retirement transition? International Journal of Population Geography, 3, 109–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, W. A. V., & Davies, S. (1990). Elderly mobility and mobility outcomes. Research on Aging, 12, 430–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Courgeau, D., & Lelièvre, E. (1992). Event history analysis in demography. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flowerdew, R., & Al-Hamad, A. (2004). The relationship between marriage, divorce and migration in a British data set. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30, 339–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frey, W. H. (1986). Lifecourse migration and redistribution of the elderly across US regions and metropolitan areas. Economic Outlook USA, 13, 10–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grundy, E. (1985). Divorce, widowhood, remarriage and geographic mobility among women. Journal of Biosocial Science, 17, 415–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haas, W. H., & Serow, W. J. (1993). Amenity retirement migration process: A model and preliminary evidence. The Gerontologist, 33, 212–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Himes, C. L. (2001). Elderly Americans. Population Bulletin, 56, 3–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hugo, G., & Bell, M. (1998). The hypothesis of welfare-led migration to rural areas: The Australia case. In P. Boyle & K. Halfacree (Eds.), Migration into rural areas: Theories and issues. London: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, S. P. (1995). Easy estimation methods for discrete-time duration models. Oxford bulletin of economics and statistics (vol. 57, pp. 129–138). Oxford: Department of Economics, University of Oxford.

  • Kitching, R. (1990). Migration behaviour among the unemployed and low-skilled. In J. J. Johnson & J. Salt (Eds.), Labour migration: The internal geographical mobility of labour in the developed world (pp. 172–190). London: David Fulton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Law, C. M., & Warnes, A. M. (1975). Life begins at sixty: The increase in regional retirement migration. Town and Country Planning, 43, 531–534.

    Google Scholar 

  • Law, C. M., & Warnes, A. M. (1982). The destination decision in retirement migration. In A. M. Warnes (Ed.), Geographical perspectives on the elderly (pp. 53–82). New York: John Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Litwak, E., & Longino, C. F. (1987). Migration patterns among the elderly: A developmental perspective. The Gerontologist, 27, 266–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longino, C. F., Jr, Bradley, D. E., Stoller, E. P., & Haas, W. H. (2008). Predictors of non-local moves among older adults: A prospective study. Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 63, S7–S14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lutz, W., Sanderson, W., & Scherbov, S. (2008). The coming acceleration of global population ageing. Nature, 451, 716–719.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulder, C., & Hooimeijer, P. (1999). Residential relocations in the life course. In L. van Wissen & P. Dykstra (Eds.), Population issues: An interdisciplinary focus (pp. 159–186). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Organisation for Economic Coooperation and Development (OECD) (2011). Trends in retirement and in working at older ages, in OECD, Pensions at a glance 2011: Retirement-income systems in OECD and G20 countries, OECD Publishing.

  • Prentice, R., & Gloeckler, L. (1978). Regression analysis of grouped survival data with application to breast cancer data. Biometrics, 34, 57–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, A. (1988). Age patterns of elderly migration: An international comparison. Demography, 25, 355–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, A., & Castro, L. J. (1981). Model migration schedules. In Research report 81–30. Laxenburg, Austria: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.

  • Rogers, A., Raquillet, R., & Castro, L. J. (1978). Model migration schedules and their applications. Environment and Planning A, 10, 475–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singer, J. D., & Willett, J. B. (1993). It’s about time: Using discrete-time survival analysis to study duration and the timing of events. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 18, 155–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. B., & Moen, P. (1998). Spousal influence on retirement: His, her and their perception. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 734–744.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sommers, D. G., & Rowell, K. R. (1992). Factors differentiating elderly residential movers and nonmovers. Population Research and Policy Review, 11, 249–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Speare, A., & Meyer, J. W. (1988). Types of elderly residential mobility and their determinants. Journal of Gerontology, 43, S74–S81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, D. S. (1938). Research memorandum on migration differentials. New York: Social Science Research Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Solinge, H., & Henkens, K. (2005). Couples’ adjustment to retirement: A multi-actor panel study. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 60, S11–S20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walters, W. H. (2000). Types and patterns of later-life migration. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 82, 129–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walters, W. H. (2002). Later-life migration in the United States: A review of recent research. Journal of Planning Literature, 17, 37–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warnes, A. M., & Law, C. M. (1984). The elderly population of Great Britain: Locational trends and policy implications. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 9(1): 37–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warnes, A. M., Friedrich, K., Kellaher, L., & Torres, S. (2004). The diversity and welfare of older migrants in Europe. Ageing and Society, 24, 307–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, N., & Wooden, M. (2002). The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey: Wave 1 survey methodology. HILDA Project Technical Paper Series. Melbourne: University of Melbourne.

  • Watson, N., & Wooden, M. (2004). Sample attrition in the HILDA Survey. Australian Journal of Labour Economics, 7, 293–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiseman, R. F. (1980). Why older people move: Theoretical issues. Research on Aging, 2, 141–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiseman, R., & Roseman, C. (1979). A typology of elderly migration nased on the decision making process. Economic Geography, 55, 324–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wroe, D. (1973). The elderly. Social Trends, 4, 23–24.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This paper was supported financially by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant DP 0451399, Understanding the Structure of Internal Migration in Australia. This paper uses unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (Melbourne Institute). The findings and views reported in this paper, however, are those of the author and should not be attributed to either FaHCSIA or the Melbourne Institute. The authors would like to thank Jutta Gampe and Temesgen Kifle for their comments on an earlier version of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wittgenstein Centre (IIASA, VID/ÖAW, WU), Vienna Institute of Demography, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wohllebengasse 12-14, 1040, Vienna, Austria

    Nikola Sander

  2. Queensland Centre for Population Research, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Martin Bell

Authors
  1. Nikola Sander
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Martin Bell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nikola Sander.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sander, N., Bell, M. Migration and retirement in the life course: an event history approach. J Pop Research 31, 1–27 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12546-013-9121-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12546-013-9121-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation