Trends and determinants of retirement transition in Europe, the USA and Japan: A comparative overview

Abstract

This comparative chapter serves as a stylized frame of comparison for the single-country chapters of the book. It briefly contrasts the development of retirement transitions in the 13 countries selected for this book by showing older workers’ employment trends over the last decades and allowing us to contrast trends in early retirement (in the 1970s and 1980s) with active aging (since the late 1990s). Furthermore, it provides an overview on the context of retirement transitions that reflects on institutional, workplace, and individual conditions. In sum, the results of our international comparison suggest a close relationship between older workers’ employment levels and contextual factors at the institutional, the workplace, and the individual level.