Work after early retirement

The purpose of this thesis is to examine three areas which are related to bridge employment: (1) the return to work decision and types of employment obtained; (2) patterns of post-retirement employment; and (3) preferences for gradual retirement. The results of this examination are reported in three self-contained papers. The first paper examines the determinants of the return to work decision and provides a description of the types of employment obtained after early retirement. Hypotheses for this paper are derived from the life course perspective, in which it is argued that later-life labour force behaviour is related to work-related issues. Data from 1,805 former employees of Bell Canada are used to show that 40 percent of the respondents returned to work--fifty-one percent returned to part-time employment, 32 percent to self employment, and 17 percent to full-time employment. Logit analysis indicates that the return to work decision and types of employment obtained are significantly associated with a number of work-related variables such as career mobility, union membership, and work attachment. In addition, the results confirm the findings of past research which argued that the labour force behaviour of older women is different than that of older men. The conclusions of this paper are related to rejection of the conventional wisdom of retirement as a permanent exit for the labour force, the policy and institutional implications of work after retirement, as well as the methodological implications of combining women and men when assessing the retirement decision. The next paper identifies four mutually exclusive patterns of employment following early retirement. Immediate, temporary, interrupted, and discouraged transitions are derived from two variables which indicated whether the respondents experienced at least one spell of unemployment in the transition from career employment to bridge employment and whether they were still working at the time of the survey. The primary objective of the paper is to estimate the determinants of uninterrupted transitions (defined by the absence of an unemployment spell). However, the paper also explores the determinants of temporary, interrupted, and discouraged transitions, all relative to immediate transitions. Data from 723 early retirees from Bell Canada who returned to work are used to confirm propositions that uninterrupted transitions are significantly related to both financial as well as work experience and human capital variables. The results also indicate that the aggregation of the uninterrupted group prevented the discussion of some unique transitional patterns, which were associated with temporary, interrupted and discouraged transitions. The conclusions are derived from the frequency of unemployment in the transition from career employment to bridge employment, the relationships between the experience of unemployment in the transition and both financial and work-related variables, the methodological need to investigate the disaggregate groups, and policy as well as institutional implications. The final paper reviews the institutional aspects of gradual retirement and determines the correlates of preferences for gradual retirement. The institutional aspects which are discussed include the advantages and disadvantages as well as the institutional barriers to gradual retirement. Data from 1,604 former Bell Canada retirees were used to show that 50 percent of the respondents preferred gradual retirement. Logit analysis do not support hypotheses that wealth-related variables significantly affect preferences for gradual retirement. In contrast, the results show a significant relationship between preferences for gradual retirement and a number of work-related variables. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)