Retirement Age Expectations of Women in Their 50s

Abstract

With population aging and continuation of female labor force participation, there is increasing social concern regarding when middle-aged female workers expect to retire. Literature on gendered life course and retirement suggests that earlier work experiences are related to retirement expectations in later life. Relying on Korean Longitudinal Study on Ageing (2012), this paper examined how retirement age expectations of women in their 50s were related to work experiences in early adulthood (ages 20-45). Retirement age expectations were categorized as: expecting to retire at age 64 or earlier, expecting to retire at 65 or later, and expecting not to retire. Early adulthood work experiences were measured by number of work years, number of jobs, and experience of job exit due to family reasons. Results suggest that women in their 50s with longer work years and women with fewer jobs were more likely to expect to retire at 64 or earlier rather than not to retire. Also women with longer work years tended to expect retire at 65 years or later than not to retire. Links between retirement age expectations and earlier work experiences remained significant after controlling for proximate conditions in one’s 50s such as current employment status and financial status. These findings suggest importance of earlier life experiences in understanding later life retirement expectations.