The proposed research will investigate the economic history of retirement in the period between 1900 and World War II. This research is needed because of new evidence that retirement was declining for males with non- agricultural occupation during this period. We will collect and analyze data from the populations censuses and other sources to obtain a better picture of the long-run trends in labor force participation by age and gender for the period 1900 to 1940. We will conduct archival research to trace the development of retirement and the evolution of retirement practices, private pensions, the health of older workers, and old-age support in the years before Social Security. We will attempt to identify the factors that influence retirement patterns in the period 1900 to 1940. We plan to explore three specific hypothesis to explain the increased tendency for older male workers in the non-agricultural sector of the economy to remain in the labor force. They are (1) the possibility that involuntary retirement declined in the period because of improving health and less demanding work; (2) the possibility that rising relative wages for older men caused workers to remain in the labor force past the age of 60: and (3) the possibility that improved job security meant retirement could be postponed.
