Transitions out of and back to employment among older men and women in the UK

Abstract

This paper presents the frst comprehensive analysis of older men and women's labour
market transitions in the United Kingdom using data from the British Household
Panel Survey (BHPS), 1990-2004. When looking at the empirical hazard rates, I find
large peaks in the exit rates out of employment at ages 60 (women) and 65 (both
sexes) which occur in the exact birthday month. This points towards strong incentives
of pension schemes. Discrete-time hazard regression analysis shows that benefits and
health status are the two most important determinants of retirement, with effects that
are larger than found in previous studies. When modelling unobserved heterogeneity
I find that women are twice as likely as men to be 'movers' between work and
non-work.