The Retirement Process in the United States: Mobility Among Full-Time Work, Partial Retirement, and Full Retirement

Abstract

The older American male’s long-term trend toward withdrawal from the labor force has continued into the 1980’s, though at a decelerating rate. At all ages over 57, male labor force participation during a year dropped by 3–4 percentage points from 1977 to 1982; whereas in the preceding 5 years it had dropped by 7–12 percentage points. While 87 percent of 55–57 year olds still worked sometime during 1982, the dropoff with advancing age was steep; only 60 percent of 62–64 year olds and 25 percent of 68–73 year olds worked at all in that year. The decline in participation from 1977 to 1982 by men over 65 came entirely at the expense of part-time work; the small fractions working substantially full-time remained stable. On the other hand, men aged 62–64 moved out of both full-time and part-time work; while men under age 62 shifted into part-time out of full-time work.²⁾

We thank George Sweeting for unusually able assistance and the conference participants, especially Winfried Schmahl, for helpful suggestions