This paper examines the behaviour of older workers, aged 50 or over, in the labour market. Especially, we
analyze the pattern of older workers when they approach the retirement age. Do they remain employed? Are
they encouraged to take early retirement? Are they more likely to lose job because of their age? This article
attempts to answer these questions using a panel data for Great Britain (BHPS). A discrete-time competing risks
model is used to analyse the patterns of elderly workers'labour market transitions from employment to three
destination states: unemployment, retirement or other states of inactivity including disability leave. We find
that workers with lower educational attainment, poor labour market experience and working in private sector
have higher risk of becoming unemployed late in their career. The decision to take early retirement is strongly
influenced by educational level, sector and size of firms, while the risk of becoming inactive for sickness or
family care is increased by precarious employment contracts and by occupying a low skilled position. We also
show that decisions to leave employment are not always a voluntary choice, but could also be involuntary. We
find that non-employment transitions are strongly and significantly related to involuntary exits, and this could
explain the low employment rate of the older workers.
| Subject : | : | oral |
| Topics | : | D7 - Ageing and work |
| Keywords | : | empirics |
| PDF version | : |  PDF version |
- Poster
