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The Netherworld between Work and Retirement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2016

Michael McGann ,
Helen Kimberley ,
Dina Bowman  and
Simon Biggs
Michael McGann
Affiliation:
School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne E-mail: [email protected]
Helen Kimberley
Affiliation:
Research and Policy Centre, Brotherhood of St Laurence E-mail: [email protected]
Dina Bowman
Affiliation:
Research and Policy Centre, Brotherhood of St Laurence, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne E-mail: [email protected]
Simon Biggs
Affiliation:
School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

A major theme within social gerontology is how retirement ‘is being re-organised, if not undone’. Institutional supports for retirement are weakening, with pension ages rising in many countries. Increasing numbers of older workers are working past traditional retirement age on a part-time or self-employed basis, and a growing minority are joining the ranks of the long-term unemployed. Drawing upon narrative interviews with older Australians who are involuntarily non-employed or underemployed, this article explores how the ‘unravelling’ of retirement is experienced by a group of older workers on the periphery of the labour market. While policy makers hope that higher pension ages will lead to a longer period of working life, the risk is that older workers, especially those experiencing chronic insecurity in the labour market, will be caught in a netherworld between work and retirement.

Keywords

older workerslong-term unemploymentearly exitprecarity
Type
Themed Section on Policy Responses to Ageing and the Extension of Working Lives
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , October 2016 , pp. 625 - 636
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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