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Negotiating A Flexible Retirement: Further Paid Work and the Quality of Life in Early Retirement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Dallas Cliff
Dallas Cliff
Affiliation:
School of Human and Health Sciences, The Polytechnic, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, England
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Abstract

The economic participation rates of older men have fallen dramatically over the last decade. Early retirements have accounted for much although not all of this reduction and yet early retirement has been a somewhat neglected aspect of the social scientific literature. Initially the prerogative of managers and white-collar workers, early retirement has spread to wider sections of the work force and has generally been seen by managers and trade unions as an uncontentious way of achieving ‘headcount reduction'. Research into the experiences of early retirees is sparse but such survey data as does exist suggests relatively high levels of satisfaction. This paper presents some of the findings of a small, qualitative study of the experience of early retirement from the chemical industry of a sample of 40 men from the West Riding of Yorkshire. An attempt was made to construct a quality-of-life index with which to compare and contrast their experiences and investigate some of the major factors in determining the outcome of early retirement. The paper highlights the role of further paid work in enabling healthy men with marketable skills to effectively negotiate their own ‘flexible retirements’. Those with ill health and a lack of skills were unable to do this and these factors were associated with a relatively low quality of life.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , September 1991 , pp. 319 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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