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Title: Early Work Exit Patterns of Older Men: The Influence of the Work Sphere
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Lee, Hyunkee
Early Work Exit Patterns of Older Men: The Influence of the Work Sphere
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Florida, 1995
Cohort(s): Older Men
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Demography; Economics of Gender; Firms; Gerontology; Industrial Relations; Labor Market Demographics; Life Course; Retirement/Retirement Planning; Unions; Work Reentry

This study identifies and examines the early work exit behaviors that have occurred in great number during the last two decades, focusing on the influence of labor markets and occupational structures. Although previous research primarily examined the impacts of pecuniary variables and individual characteristics variables on early retirement, this research approaches early work exit behaviors with a labor market perspective which emphasizes actors in labor markets, firms, labor unions, and governments. This study argues that increasing diversity in early withdrawal patterns is driven by an evolution of labor markets and an occupational structure which is dependent on labor market conditions. The study estimates effects of occupational characteristics and labor market conditions on early work exit patterns. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men, 2784 of older workers, who turned age 55 after the survey began, are followed from age 55 through age 61. In six years of observation, five types of work exit patterns are identified: still working at age 55 job, exit and reenter (job change), out of the labor force to in the labor force, sporadic work, and retired. Here, a job change is defined by an occupational movement, using three digit occupation codes, and so a job change in this study does not necessarily mean an employer change. Results of the study show the complex work exit behaviors of the elderly are very different from the traditional one-step retirement from a life time job to permanent exit and indicate that the massive early work exit is strongly driven by firms, labor unions, and governments as well as older workers themselves. Thus, these results suggest that a work domain is an important aspect in explaining early retirement. The final chapter discusses implications of these results for life course perspective and sociology of age.
Bibliography Citation
Lee, Hyunkee. Early Work Exit Patterns of Older Men: The Influence of the Work Sphere. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Florida, 1995.