Occupational Differences in the Ability of Men to Delay Retirement

Abstract

Whether the functional capacity of older men to remain at work differs by occupational assignment is an important consideration in judging policies designed to advance the age of retirement. A competing-risk model of retirement, disability and death is used to test hypotheses about the influence of physically strenuous work on the ability to delay retirement. Time-dependent hazard rate functions are estimated with panel data on a nationally representative sample of older American males. Physical job requirements and health conditions are found to affect the likelihood of retiring in a disabled state. However, projections of the fractions of workers in physically strenuous and sedentary job categories that are likely to encounter difficulty in staying in the labor force do not differ greatly. Special policy consideration of workers in nonsedentary occupations may therefore be questioned.