The withdrawal of older workers from the labor force creates a variety of economic challenges, including an increase in unused production capacity. Costs due to early retirement measured in terms of forgone output averaged 6.3 percent of potential gross domestic product in the OECD in 1998....

The more traditional view of retirement as a one-time event has been superseded in recent years by the idea that, for many workers, leaving the work force may involve a less abrupt transition to full-time retirement. This article examines the process of exiting the labor force referred to in the...