Labour Market Engagement of Mature-Age Workers

Abstract

Supporting those mature-age workers who wish to continue working is a key policy challenge arising from the Intergenerational Report 2010. As previous research indicates, there are many factors that influence labour market engagement of those approaching retirement. This paper examines those factors with a particular focus on the role of occupations and job characteristics. The analysis centres on the labour market transition of men and women aged between 55 and 64 years old over a time period of approximately one year. The data used for our analysis is drawn from the first 7 waves of the HILDA data and we utilise a multinomial logit (MNL) model to determine the characteristics associated with remaining in full-time employment, moving into full retirement and/or moving into partial retirement. Consistent with previous research, we find that certain household and financial factors such as the labour force status of a partner, wages and home ownership are associated with the retirement paths of mature-age people. Further the results indicate that certain occupations and job characteristics are significantly correlated with the employment engagement of mature-age workers.