TRENDS IN LABOR-FORCE TRANSITIONS OF OLDER MEN AND WOMEN

We use the Current Population Survey to describe what we believe are t he most salient aspects of labor force behavior of older men and women during the last 2 decades. First, we show that early retirement has i ncreased dramatically, and this trend continued through the 1980s. Sec ond, we show that the factors that most sharply distinguish propensiti es toward early retirement are those usually associated with low wages . Third, we show that trends in reduced participation for older men pa rallel those for younger men, while a pattern of increasing female par ticipation is to be expected given the behavior of younger cohorts.