BLS WORKING PAPERS 

 U.S. Department of Labor 

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Office of Productivity and Technology 

The Role of Re-entry in the Retirement Process

Michael D. Giandrea, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Kevin E. Cahill, Analysis Group, Inc.

Joseph F. Quinn, Boston College

Working Paper 439

May 2010

All views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Role of Re-entry in the Retirement Process

Kevin E. Cahill, Ph.D. 

(corresponding author)

Analysis Group, Inc. 

111 Huntington Avenue, 10th Floor 

Boston, MA 02199 

Email: kcahill@analysisgroup.com

Phone: (617) 425-8380 

Michael D. Giandrea, Ph.D.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Office of Productivity and Technology 

Postal Square Building, Room 2180 

2 Massachusetts Ave., NE 

Washington, DC 20212-0001 

Email: giandrea.michael@bls.gov

Phone: (202) 691-5628 

Joseph F. Quinn, Ph.D. 

Department of Economics 

Gasson Hall 103 

Boston College 

Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3803 

Email: joseph.quinn@bc.edu

Phone: (617) 552-2393 

May 26, 2010 

 

All views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or 

policies of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation supported this research 

through a grant to the Center on Aging and Work/Workplace Flexibility at Boston College.
- 2 -

Abstract

To what extent do older Americans re-enter the labor force after an initial exit and what drives 

these “unretirement” decisions? Retirement for most older Americans with full-time career jobs 

is not a one-time, permanent event. Labor force exit is more likely to be a process. Prior studies 

have found that between one half and two thirds of career workers take at least one other job 

before exiting from the labor force completely. The transitional nature of retirement may be 

even more pronounced when considering the impact of re-entry. This paper examines the extent 

to which older Americans with career jobs re-entered the labor force. The analysis is based on 

data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), an ongoing, longitudinal survey of older 

Americans that began in 1992. We examined the retirement patterns of a subset of 5,617 HRS 

respondents who were on a full-time career job at the time of the first interview. Logistic 

regression was used to explore determinants of re-entry among those who initially exited the 

labor force. We found that approximately 15 percent of older Americans with career jobs 

returned to the labor force after initially exiting. Respondents were more likely to re-enter if 

they were younger, were in better health, or had a defined-contribution pension plan. This 

research provides empirical evidence of how older Americans are utilizing bridge jobs as they 

transition from career employment, and that re-entry may be an important part of 

the work experience of older Americans.

Key words: Bridge Jobs, Economics of Aging, Partial Retirement, Gradual Retirement

JEL No.: J26, J14, J32, H55 
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I. Introduction

Retirement for most older Americans with full-time career jobs is not a one-time, 

permanent event. Labor force exit is more likely to be a process, as more than one half of all

career workers take another job before exiting from the labor force completely.1 The transitional 

nature of retirement may be even more pronounced if one considers the impact of re-entry 

among those who exited the labor force directly from their career jobs.2

Retirement is a period of uncertainty for many reasons. In terms of income security, the 

fairly recent shift towards a do-it-yourself approach to retirement combined with the current 

financial crisis is likely to make retirement even more uncertain for many.

 Viewed this way, reentry may be a form of hidden transitional retirement – some individuals who appear to have 

exited the labor force directly may in fact expect to re-enter, if necessary. Re-entry may 

therefore remain an option within retirement, further blurring the distinction between work and 

leisure later in life. This paper examines the prevalence and determinants of re-entry, or 

“unretirement,” and examines the extent to which the possibility of re-entry is part of the initial 

retirement decision. To what extent is re-entry viewed as a contingency plan in the face of 

uncertainty in retirement? 

3

 In particular, the 

movement away from traditional defined-benefit pensions over the past 20 years has been a key 

change in the retirement income landscape.4

 

1 Mutchler et al. (1997); Quinn (1999, 2000); Cahill, Giandrea, and Quinn (2006); Giandrea, Cahill, and Quinn 

(2008).

 Between 1983 and 2004 the percentage of workers 

with a pension who had a defined-benefit plan decreased from 62 percent to 20 percent, and 

2 Maestas (2007).

3 Munnell, et al. (2004).

4 Munnell and Sundén (2004).
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many of the defined-benefit plans that remained were converted to cash balance plans.5 Definedcontribution plans, in which workers decide how much to contribute and how to invest their 

funds, have largely taken the place of defined-benefit plans.6 Employees with definedcontribution plans assume the investment risk associated with their pension plans. The result is 

that the pension wealth of many older workers and retirees is now more susceptible to market 

fluctuations. Further, expected changes to Social Security that will be required to maintain 

program solvency, such as further increases in the normal retirement age or benefit reductions, 

are likely to continue the shift towards the do-it-yourself approach.7

One way workers can respond to these changes is to remain working later in life. Indeed, 

older workers are doing this already as a century-old trend towards earlier and earlier retirement 

among American men halted in the mid-1980s.8 Labor force participation rates among older 

men and especially women have increased in recent years.9

Re-entry can be viewed as a blend of these two approaches -- a way that individuals can 

leave the labor force in the face of uncertainty with the option of returning later, if necessary. In 

fact, this option may be part of the retirement decision. If so, an examination of actual work 

decisions later in life might not provide a complete picture of gradual retirement because a 

 Another way workers can respond is 

to leave the labor force and adjust consumption to match their retirement income. This approach 

has the disadvantage of reducing living standards, although retirees may be better off if the 

reduction in well-being due to lower consumption is offset by the benefits of the additional 

leisure.

 

5 Munnell and Perun (2006). Cahill and Soto (2003) provide more information on cash balance plans which are 

often referred to as “hybrid” pension plans, because they contain characteristics of both defined-benefit and definedcontribution plans.

6 Munnell and Sundén (2004). 7 Munnell (2003); The Board of Trustees, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability 

Insurance Trust Funds (2007).

8 Quinn (1999).

9 Eschtruth and Gemus (2002); Purcell (2007).
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fraction of those who exit the labor force directly from their full-time career job may actually be 

expecting to return if retirement income falls short of expectations, if retirement is not fulfilling, 

or for any number of reasons. These “retirees” are actually workers on reserve.

This paper examines the prevalence and determinants of re-entry. Our study is based on 

data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally-representative survey of various 

cohorts of older Americans that began in 1992.10

The next section of the paper provides some relevant background and an overview of the 

relevant literature on transitional retirement. Section III describes the dataset and methods used 

in the study, with a detailed description of a key sub-sample used in the analysis – employees 

who have had a career job in their work history. Section IV presents the findings and Section V 

summarizes the results of the study. 

 The cohort of interest in this study is the HRS 

Core sample, those born between 1931 and 1941. This sample consists of approximately 12,600 

individuals from 7,600 households, interviewed every other year from 1992 to 2008. 

II. Background 

The existing literature on re-entry, or “unretirement,” can be separated into two categories: 

(1) studies that examine re-entry later in life in response to an unexpected event, and (2) studies 

that consider re-entry in the context of retirement transitions more generally. An example of the 

former is Chan and Stevens (2001) who investigated re-entry patterns of older workers who had 

been displaced by layoffs or plant closings. They found that about three quarters of these

displaced workers in their 50s re-entered the labor force within two years of job loss, and that reentry rates decreased with age. One important aspect of this paper is that this set of re-entrants 

included individuals who did not consider themselves retired, but instead as unemployed and 

 

10 Juster and Suzman (1995).
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looking for work. Another key aspect of the Chan and Stevens research is that they compared 

workers who had been displaced with those who had not been displaced to show that 

displacement has a long-term negative effect on subsequent employment probabilities. 

A second example of this body of research is Coile and Levine (2006) who investigated reentry in the context of the booming stock market valuations of the late 1990s and the subsequent 

bust from 2000 to 2002. Using HRS data and a model of re-entry that controlled for economic 

and demographic characteristics they found no statistically significant impact of the stock market 

decline on the rate of re-entry.

Articles that examine re-entry in the context of retirement transitions more generally are 

more relevant to our study. One early study by Blau (1994) investigated transitions among older 

workers approaching retirement. Using quarterly data from the Retirement History Survey, Blau 

found both higher rates of exit and re-entry compared to studies that had utilized annual or 

biannual data. He found that approximately 26 percent of older men who were not employed 

transitioned either to part-time or full-time employment, while 23 percent of part-time employed 

men returned to full-time employment. Blau also found that the quarterly hazard rate for 

transitioning from out of the labor force to full-time employment was five percent for 56 year 

olds. This rate remained high until age 62 and then fell below one percent by age 64. The 

hazard rate of re-entry to part-time employment never rose above 1.2 percent. 

A study that is particularly relevant to this paper is Maestas (2007) who examined the 

extent to which re-entry was anticipated prior to retirement. Utilizing the first six waves of HRS 

data, Maestas analyzed retirement transitions using self-identified retirement status at different 

points in time. Maestas found that about one half of workers retired in the “traditional” fashion, 

directly from either full-time or part-time employment to full retirement (complete labor force 
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withdrawal). Maestas then focused on the transitions that workers made from retirement: from 

complete retirement to partial retirement (i.e., a self report of “retirement” combined with nonfull-time employment), from complete retirement to full-time employment, and from partial 

retirement to full-time employment. Maestas found that between 16 and 26 percent of retirees 

returned to the labor force by the sixth wave of the HRS (2002). As expected, she found that 

unretirement rates were substantially higher among those who first retired in their early to mid 

50s than among those who first retired later in life. Maestas established that returns to the labor 

force can be common among retirees and that labor force participation during retirement was 

expected, before retirement, by over 80 percent of unretirees. Unretirement was simply a 

method by which workers could smooth the eventual transition from employment to full 

retirement.

One caveat with some of the re-entry studies in the literature is the reliance on self-reported 

retirement, which can be an unreliable measure. Our paper addresses this issue by using actual 

work status at the time of each survey to identify retirement transitions. Our analysis also uses 

nine waves of HRS data. This extended time period, from 1992 to 2008, allows for numerous 

work-leisure combinations over time and reveals a variety of interesting paths to retirement.

III. Data and Methods 

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a nationally-representative, longitudinal survey 

of older Americans that began in 1992.11

 

11 Juster and Suzman (1995).

 Surveys have taken place every other year since then 

and we utilize data through 2008. The HRS core respondents were aged 51 to 61 at the time of 

their first interview in 1992. Each HRS survey contains detailed information on the 

demographic and economic characteristics of the sample. Key features of the survey for this 
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paper are the questions related to respondents’ expectations about retirement and their actual 

work status in each wave. The original set of HRS respondents included about 12,600 persons 

from approximately 7,600 households. Attrition from one wave to the next ranged from four to 

nine percent: after six years (4 waves) about 81 percent of the sample remained, and after 16 

years about 62 percent remained. 

This paper focuses on labor force exit and retirement patterns, so we excluded respondents 

with no work experience after age 49. The vast majority of HRS men and women had work 

experience later in life, as shown in Table 1. Just over 90 percent of men in the sample worked 

since age 49. Work experience was somewhat lower among women with 78 percent of the 

sample having work experience after age 49. 

We made an additional restriction based on whether a respondent, since age 49, had a fulltime career (FTC) job, defined as one that consists of 1,600 or more hours per year (i.e., fulltime) and that lasted for 10 or more years (i.e., career). The longitudinal nature of the HRS 

allowed us to do this because the initial questionnaire asked about a respondent’s current job and 

all previous jobs that lasted five years or more. If a respondent was not working at the time of 

the wave 1 interview, he or she was asked about the most recent job held, regardless of tenure. 

We found that 73 percent of men and 46 percent of women had a FTC job since age 49. 

The bulk of our analysis required that the set of respondents be restricted to those with FTC 

jobs at the time of their first interview because the first HRS survey contains key questions about 

retirement expectations and work-related questions. Among the HRS sample, 52 percent of men 

(n = 3,061) and 38 percent of women (n = 2,556) were on a FTC job in 1992. 

IV. Results
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The Prevalence of Re-entry

 Our analysis begins with a group of HRS respondents who had a full-time career job after

age 49. We followed these individuals over time and documented whether and how they left that 

job and, in some cases, the labor force. Among the HRS respondents for whom we can track 

employment activity, about 23 percent of men and women were either still on a FTC job in 2008 

or were last observed to have been on a FTC job, and another 19 to 21 percent were still on a 

bridge job in 2008 (Table 2). About one half of the respondents were out of the labor force at the 

time of the 2008 interview. 

The respondents of particular interest in this study are those who were working at the 

time of or prior to the 2002 interview and who were out of the labor force for at least two 

consecutive waves following their FTC job.12 About 8 percent of sample men and women fell 

into this category. Most of these individuals had initially exited directly from their FTC job, 

although some were observed to have moved to a bridge job following FTC employment, then 

were out for at least two waves, and then re-entered. 13

 

Demographic and Economic Characteristics of Re-entrants 

 A key question for this study is how respondents who re-entered the labor force 

compared to those who remained retired. To answer this question we used detailed information 

on demographic and economic characteristics that were available at the time the respondents left

their FTC jobs. In order to perform the analysis in this way, an additional restriction to the 

 

12 We require respondents to be out of the labor force for at least two surveys in order to avoid misclassifying 

respondents who had a temporary lull in employment only. Therefore, respondents had to exit the labor force by the 

time of the 2002 interview in order to qualify for re-entry status (e.g., worked in 2002; out in 2004 and 2006; reentered in 2008). While this re-entry criterion requires a respondent to be out of the labor force for at least two 

interviews, re-entry could in fact occur after a much longer period. 13 We were unable to identify retirement transitions for about 8 percent of the sample. These individuals are not 

considered in the percentages calculated above.
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sample was required. Specifically, the analysis was based on respondents who were on a FTC 

job as of 1992. An advantage of this approach is that we did not rely on information that was 

provided retrospectively by respondents. The main disadvantage is that the sample size was 

reduced from 7,432 to 5,617 respondents. Among the sample, 426 (244 men and 182 women) 

individuals who were on a FTC job in 1992 had exited the labor force for two or more 

subsequent waves, and then re-entered.

Re-entry was more common among those who were younger and in better health at the 

time of their transition from the FTC job (Table 3). Approximately three quarters of the men 

who re-entered were less than age 62 compared to about two thirds of those who remained out. 

At the other end of the distribution, seven percent of men who re-entered were aged 65 or older 

at the time of transition compared to 13 percent of those who remained out. About one half of 

men made a transition from a FTC job between the ages of 56 and 61. A similar pattern was 

observed among women. 

 Regarding health status, more than one half of all respondents on FTC jobs in 1992 who 

were out of the labor force for two or more waves rated their health as excellent or very good 

prior to leaving their FTC job. Among men, 62 percent of those who re-entered rated their 

health as excellent or very good compared to one half of those who stayed out of the labor force. 

Those men who re-entered were also less likely than those who remained out to report their 

health as being fair or poor (11 percent versus 17 percent). Again, a similar pattern was 

observed among women. This may be indicative of healthy men and women having more 

opportunity to join the labor market after being out of the labor force for at least two surveys. 

Good health may result in broader choices of occupations and industries for re-entrants.
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 With respect to other demographic characteristics, compared to those who remained 

retired, re-entrants were slightly more likely to have a college degree and were significantly 

more likely to have dependent children (women only). Spouse’s health status did not differ 

significantly by re-entry status. Spouse’s employment status had an impact among both men and 

women, where those who re-entered were more likely than those who remained out to have an 

employed spouse, though differences were not statistically significant. 

 In addition to demographic characteristics, economic factors, including the characteristics 

of an individual’s FTC job, differed by re-entry status. Some key differences are discussed here, 

while a more exhaustive list is shown in Table 4. Over 37 percent of men who re-entered had 

defined-benefit pensions on their FTC job while only 24 percent had defined-contribution 

pensions. The corresponding percentages for those men who remained out of the labor force 

were 42 and 22 percent. Thus the prevalence of defined-benefit pensions was substantially 

higher among those who left a FTC job and remained out of the labor force. This relationship 

was even more evident among women. This difference is consistent with some recent literature 

on bridge jobs that has found those with defined-benefit plans were less likely to experience a 

gradual retirement.14

 Individuals who re-entered were also more likely than those who remained out to have 

had lower wages on the FTC job and lower levels of wealth (men only) at the time of transition, 

 It is also consistent with the idea that those with defined-benefit plans have 

a more stable retirement financially and may be less likely to rely on re-entry to supplement their 

retirement income. Further, this evidence is consistent with the notion that individuals with 

defined-contribution plans may be more vulnerable in retirement because of investment risk and 

may be more likely to re-enter after an initial exit. 

 

14 See Cahill, Giandrea, and Quinn (2006).
- 12 -

though differences were not statistically significant.15

A similar story holds with respect to wealth at the time of the transition from FTC 

employment. Approximately 36 percent of the men who re-entered had less than $25,000 in 

assets at the time they left their FTC job, compared to about 32 percent among those who 

remained out. Men who re-entered were also less likely than those who remained out to own a 

home, 73 percent versus 80 percent among men; there was no difference in home ownership by 

re-entry status among the women. The issue of wealth prior to retirement is a potential concern 

for both groups who left the labor force following full-time career employment. Overall, well 

more than one half of all those who exited had less than $100,000 in assets prior to leaving their 

FTC job. This may have policy implications if the shift towards a do-it-yourself approach to 

retirement continues. 

 About 36 percent of the men and 40 

percent of the women who re-entered had been earning less than $10 per hour (1992 dollars) on 

their FTC job just prior to transition; corresponding percentages for those who remained out of 

the labor force were approximately five percentage points lower. 

Given the flexibility associated with self employment, a priori, it seemed that respondents 

who were self employed on their FTC job would be more likely to re-enter following an exit. The 

relationship is not as strong as we had expected, however. Among the men, approximately 14 

percent of those who re-entered were self employed compared to 12 percent of those who did not 

re-enter. Among women, the difference was larger and statistically significant, 12 percent versus 6 

percent. One possible explanation is that the self employed may be more likely to retire gradually, 

in stages, while on their career job (an option open to few wage-and-salary workers) rather than 

leave and then return. Another possibility is that other factors besides self employment are not 

 

15 Wealth does not include the value of the primary residence or of any defined-benefit pension plans vested in the 

worker.
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being held constant, and that these factors are blurring the impact of self employment. To address 

this issue, we turn to a multivariate approach to examine re-entry. 

Determinants of Re-entry 

We model the re-entry decision later in life using logistic regression. The sample 

included individuals who were on a FTC job at the time of the first interview and who were not 

working for at least two consecutive waves following the FTC job. The dependent variable was 

equal to one if an individual re-entered the labor force after being out for at least two waves and 

was equal to zero otherwise. The set of right-hand side variables included the demographic and 

economic characteristics described above, in addition to other controls such as region and 

ethnicity. All time-varying variables, such as age, health status, and spouse’s employment status, 

were measured as of the time of the transition from the FTC job. The model was estimated for 

men and women separately. Selected marginal effects from the regressions, evaluated at sample 

means, are reported in Table 5.

 One of the strongest predictors of re-entry was age, as might be expected. Respondents 

who were older at the time they left their FTC job were less likely to re-enter the labor force. 

Men and women who were aged 56 to 61 at the time of transition, for example, were five 

percentage points less likely to re-enter than those less than age 56; men and women who were 

aged 62 to 64 were between 8 and 11 percentage points less likely to re-enter than those younger 

than age 56, and those aged 65 and older were 14 and 23 percentage points less likely to re-enter 

than those younger than age 56. Respondents who rated their health as fair or poor were less 

likely to re-enter than those who rated their health as good, although the impact was only 

marginally significant among men. 
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 Pension status, home ownership, and spousal work status were also significant 

determinants of re-entry among the men. Men with defined-contribution plans were about 5 

percentage points more likely to re-enter relative to those without a pension. This result supports 

the findings regarding pension status that were found in the descriptive analysis. One difference 

between men and women in the descriptive analysis was the impact of having a working spouse 

– men with a working spouse were more likely to re-enter than those without a working spouse, 

whereas there appeared to be no difference among the women. This result remained in the 

multivariate analysis. Men with a working spouse were 5 percentage points more likely to reenter than those whose spouses did not work, and the result was significant at the 5 percent level. 

Women with a working spouse were neither more nor less likely to re-enter than those whose 

spouse did not work. Regarding home ownership, men who owned a home were 5 percentage 

points less likely to re-enter, suggesting that home ownership was a sign of financial stability in 

retirement. Finally, self-employment status was significant only among the women, a finding 

that is also consistent with the descriptive results. 

V. Conclusion 

This paper examined the extent to which re-entry plays a role in the retirement process. 

According to data from the Health and Retirement Study from 1992 to 2008, about 15 percent of 

the sample of older Americans with full-time career jobs returned to the labor force after exiting 

and remaining out at least 2 years. Respondents were more likely to re-enter after leaving a FTC 

job if they were younger, in better health, had a college degree, and had dependent children at the 

time of the transition (women only). Individuals with employer-provided pensions on the FTC 

job were also more likely to re-enter than those without pensions. Notably, among the men, 
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being self employed on the FTC job did not have a strong impact the probability of re-entry after 

an exit. Finally, respondents with lower wages and respondents who did not own a home were 

more likely to re-enter, though these differences were only marginally significant.

This research provides additional evidence that retirement transitions are even more 

varied than what is reported in the bridge job literature. Among those who exited the labor force 

directly from career employment, retirement is often not a one-time, permanent event. A sizable 

portion of these respondents returned to the labor force. As a result, when bridge job prevalence 

and re-entry are both taken into account, it is clear that the large majority of older Americans 

with FTC jobs do not experience a direct exit from the labor force. 
- 16 -

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Landscape? Issue in Brief 14 (December). Chestnut Hill, MA: Center for Retirement 

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The Board of Trustees, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability 

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Source: Authors' calculations based on the Health and Retirement Study.

Men Women Total

Particpated in wave 1

n 5,869 6,783 12,652

Worked since age 49

n 5,353 5,286 10,639

% of HRS Core 91% 78% 84%

Had FTC job after age 49

n 4,288 3,144 7,432

% of HRS Core 73% 46% 59%

On FTC in 1992

n 3,061 2,556 5,617

% of HRS Core 52% 38% 44%

HRS Core: Respondents Aged 51-61 in 1992

Table 1

Sample Size

by Gender, Survey Participation, and Work Status
Source: Authors' calculations based on the Health and Retirement Study.

Work status Men Women

FTC job 22.6% 23.3%

Bridge job

Still on bridge job 20.9% 18.7%

Out

Still out 21.2% 21.1%

Re-entered 1.9% 1.9%

Direct exit

Still out 27.0% 29.2%

Re-entered 6.4% 5.9%

n 4,288 3,144

Table 2

Last Observed Status by 2008

Among Respondents Who Had a FTC Job After Age 49

by Gender and Survey Participation

Note: Work status could not be determined for 8.1 percent of 

men and 5.6 percent of women.
Source: Authors' calculations based on the Health and Retirement Study.

Work status Still out Re-entered Still out Re-entered

Age prior to transition**,##,^^

 < 55 17 25 27 42

 56 - 61 49 52 49 47

 62 - 64 21 17 17 10

 65+ 13 7 7 2

Subjective Health Status**,##

 excellent or very good 50 62 51 61

 good 33 26 33 30

 fair or poor 17 11 17 9

College Degree 21 23 21 23

Less than College Degree 79 77 79 77

Married^^ 89 91 70 69

Not Married 11 9 30 31

Dependent Children##,^^ 15 17 26 36

No Dependent Children 85 83 74 64

Spouse's Health Status

 excellent or very good 55 57 50 48

 good 27 26 32 35

 fair or poor 18 17 19 17

Spouse Employed 45 50 39 44

Spouse Not Employed 55 50 61 56

n 1,315 244 1,129 182

#, ## Difference by re-entry status among women is statistically significant at the 5% and 1% level, respectively.

^, ^^ Difference by gender among those who re-entered is statistically significant at the 5% and 1% level, respectively.

Table 3

Men Women

Demographic Characteristics Prior to Initial Transition, by Re-entry Status

Sample: Respondents With a FTC Job in 1992 and Who Exited by 2008

*, ** Difference by re-entry status among men is statistically significant at the 5% and 1% level, respectively.
Source: Authors' calculations based on the Health and Retirement Study.

Work status Still out Re-entered Still out Re-entered

Health Insurance Status

 Not covered on career job 6 5 7 7

 "Covered and would maintain" coverage 80 81 74 80

 "Covered and would lose" coverage 14 14 18 14

Pension Status

 No Pension 30 29 29 31

 Defined - Contribution only 22 24 26 33

 Defined - Benefit only 42 37 41 33

 Both DB and DC 6 10 5 4

Self-Employed## 12 14 6 12

Wage and Salary 88 86 94 88

Occupation Status^^

 White collar, highly skilled 34 35 33 35

 White collar, other 13 13 37 34

 Blue collar, highly skilled 27 31 8 9

 Blue collar, other 26 22 21 22

Wage Rate^^

 $0 - $10/hour 30 36 35 40

 $10 - $20/hour 26 23 39 37

 $20 - $50/hour 41 38 24 22

 > $50/hour 3 4 2 2

Wealth

$0-$25k 32 36 40 38

$25k-$100k 25 25 22 29

$100k-$500k 33 28 29 27

>$500k 9 11 8 6

Do not own home* 20 27 20 20

Own home 80 73 80 80

n 1,315 244 1,129 182

#, ## Difference by re-entry status among women is statistically significant at the 5% and 1% level, respectively.

^, ^^ Difference by gender among those who re-entered is statistically significant at the 5% and 1% level, respectively.

Table 4

Economic Characteristics Prior to Initial Transition, by Re-entry Status

Sample: HRS Core Respondents With a FTC Job in 1992 and Who Exited by 2008

Men Women

*, ** Difference by re-entry status among men is statistically significant at the 5% and 1% level, respectively.
Source: Authors' calculations based on the Health and Retirement Study.

p-value p-value

Age

56 or younger ------- ------- ------- -------

56-61 -0.053 ** 0.019 -0.055 ** 0.004

62-64 -0.078 ** 0.005 -0.105 ** 0.001

65 or older -0.142 ** 0.000 -0.230 ** 0.000

Respondent Health

Excellent/very good 0.033 0.107 0.030 0.124

Good ------- ------- ------- -------

Fair/poor -0.042 0.196 -0.077 ** 0.018

Pension Status

Defined-benefit 0.011 0.629 -0.010 0.642

Defined-contribution 0.048 ** 0.034 0.035 0.119

Both 0.021 0.630 -0.038 0.533

None ------- ------- ------- -------

Self Employed 0.040 0.227 0.071 ** 0.024

Spouse works 0.046 ** 0.036 0.039 0.149

Own Home -0.045 * 0.068 0.018 0.471

Constant -0.117 ** 0.000 -0.144 ** 0.000

Female ------- ------- ------- -------

coefficient coefficient

Sample: HRS Core Respondents With a FTC Job in 1992 and Who Exited the Labor Force by 2008

Men Women

Table 5

Selected Marginal Effects from Logistic Regression

Dependent Variable: Re-entered by Time t (Re-entered = 1)