Most unretirement research has focused on single countries, indicating that socio-economic advantage and financial need predict unretirement in particular settings. Remarkably, little is known about whether the frequency and predictors of unretirement-returning to paid work after ceasing work at retirement-vary in relation to the country setting. We followed recent retirees over time in Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom to compare unretirement rates and predictors, and whether financial need predicted unretirement in a middle-income setting rather than in a high-income setting. We harmonized data ex post from four prospective surveys: German Socio-Economic Panel Study (1991-2016), Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (1994-2016), and for the United Kingdom, British Household Panel Survey (1991-2008), and Understanding Society (2010-2015). Unretirement was examined using Cox regression in relation to gender, age, education, health, household income, and financial difficulties. After 20 years of follow-up, the cumulative hazard of unretirement attained 0.20 in German, 0.24 in British, and 0.40 in Russian participants. Unretirement rates were generally higher for retirees who were younger, in better health and had higher household income. Worries about finances did not predict unretirement in Russia; such concerns predicted higher unretirement rates only in fully adjusted models in Germany and the United Kingdom. Since retirees in financial need may have difficulties finding suitable jobs, unretirement is a process with the potential to deepen financial inequality in later life. Variations in unretirement rates and predictors across countries demonstrate the importance of extending unretirement research to incorporate a cross-national comparative perspective.

Older workers generally, and pension-eligible workers in particular, face many trade-offs when it comes to continued work later in life. In this study, we explore the degree to which older workers accept lower hourly wages in return for hours reductions. We use longitudinal, biennial data on nearly 14,000 older Americans from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study. The Health and Retirement Study began in 1992 and now contains 30 years of follow-up data for the oldest cohort. We construct individual work histories and examine individuals’ evolving wage and hours arrangements from career employment to potentially bridge employment and complete labor force withdrawal. Using descriptive and multivariate techniques, we find that workers who reduce their hours while remaining in career employment generally do not experience a reduction in hourly compensation. Reductions in hourly compensation, however, do emerge if these individuals transition to bridge employment. We conclude that wage rigidities appear to limit the extent to which a direct relationship exists between hours flexibility and compensation in career employment later in life. The findings from this study can inform researchers and others about the limited degree to which wages adjust in career employment and the sizable reductions that tend to follow in bridge employment.

Many countries have implemented policies to extend working lives in response to population ageing, yet there remains little understanding of what drives paid work in later life, nor how this is changing over time. This paper utilises the 1988/89 Survey of Retirement and Retirement Plans, the 1999 British Household Panel Survey and the 2008 English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, to investigate drivers of paid work in the ten years surrounding state pension age (SPA) for women and men in, comparing cohorts born in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Using optimal matching analysis with logistic and multinomial regression models, the study assesses the relative importance of lifecourse histories, socio-economic circumstances and contemporaneous factors, in determining paid work in mid- and later life. Participation in paid work in the five years preceding and beyond SPA increased markedly for men and women across cohorts, with women's lifecourses and engagement with paid work changing considerably in these periods. However, for women, a lifetime history of paid work remained a crucially important predictor of paid work in later life, and this relationship has strengthened over time. Experiencing divorce has also become an important driver of paid work around SPA for the youngest cohort. Having children later, and still having a mortgage, also independently predict labour force participation for women and men. Across all cohorts and for women and men, working at these older ages was a function of higher income and better health. These findings suggest that policies which enable people to maintain ties to paid work across the lifecourse may be more effective at encouraging later-life employment than those concerned only with postponing the retirement transition.

Most older Americans with career employment change jobs at least once before retiring from the labor market. Much is known about the prevalence and determinants of these bridge jobs, yet relatively little is known about the implications of such job changes—compared to direct exits from a career job—upon economic disparities in later life. In this article, we use 26 years of longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study to document the various pathways that older Americans take when exiting the labor force, and examine how bridge employment affects nonhousing wealth and total wealth, including the present discounted value of Social Security benefits. We find that gradual retirement in the form of bridge employment neither exacerbates nor mitigates wealth inequalities among Americans who hold career jobs later in life. That said, we do find some evidence that wealth inequalities grow among the subset of older career workers who transition from career employment to bridge employment at older ages. One policy implication of our article is that it provides evidence that might allay concerns about the potential for disparate financial impacts associated with the gradual retirement process. 

Objectives: Secure adult attachment may promote health and well-being in old age, yet is understudied in this life phase. Consequently, we aim to examine associations between adult attachment and mental and physical health and quality of life, both concurrently and longitudinally.Methods: We used three phases of the Whitehall II study (n = 5,222 to 6,713). Adult attachment was measured with the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ) at 48–68 years. Mental and physical health was measured concurrently and 14 years later; quality of life was measured five years later. We used linear regressions to examine associations, controlling for age, gender and education.Results: Almost half, 46% of participants, were classified as secure, 13% as preoccupied, 34% as dismissing and 7% as fearful. Adult attachment was associated with mental and physical health, concurrently and 14 years later, and with quality of life five years later. Preoccupied and fearful participants had poorest mental health and quality of life; dismissing participants held an intermediate position. Insecurely attached participants tended to report poorer physical health.Conclusions: Adult attachment has enduring associations with mental and physical health, which suggests that the construct of adult attachment itself is stable in this phase of the life course.