This publication contains current research and analysis on a broad range of issues topical to Australia's social policy and its administration. Special section: papers from the conference 'Income support, labour markets and behaviour: a research agenda'

In this paper, we compare the patterns of labor force withdrawal of older workers in seven OECD countries. We find wide variation in retirement patterns and recent trends. In Sweden and the United States, for example, it is relatively common for workers to combine retirement benefits and...

Analyzing data from the Retirement History Study, the authors find that the retirement plans of male workers aged 58-63 in 1969 were significantly affected by unanticipated events over the next decade. Specifically, unanticipated increases in Social Security wealth induced retirement earlier...

Wages in the public sector are often set on the basis of comparisons with compensation in the private sector. There are reasons to suspect that this approach may result in government pay schedules that exceed those in the private sector. In this paper, with a human capital model of wage...

This book summarizes research on individual retirement decisions and aggregate retirement trends. It also serves as an excellent reference source on the economics of retirement.

Aggregate data reveal a sizable increase in labor force participation rates since 2000 among American workers on the cusp of retirement, reverting back to levels for older men not seen since the 1970s. While these aggregate numbers are useful in that they document overall trends, they do not...