Aging and Preference for Later Retirement

Abstract

The hypothesis was investigated that older workers who are longer in the work role are more anxious to remain in their work role and prefer to retire at a later age. In the design, social class and health were age-invariant because of the selective nature of the VA Normative Aging population. These two major contaminants of the relationship between age and later retirement preference were therefore controlled. A stepwise regression analysis found that later retirement preference was related to age and social class factors, the two acting independently, and with age more than twice as important as social class. This finding is problematic because of (1) a trend to earlier mandatory retirement related to increased industrial productivity; (2) capacity for longer work life, related to improvement in health and longevity; and (3) a trend to non-manual occupation, which is less vulnerable to age decrement. In summary, contrary to disengagement theory, the desire to stave off retirement increases with age at a time of societal pressure for curtailment of work role. The solution to this dilemma lies either in expansion of work roles or massive change in values favoring earlier retirement.