Understanding work and retirement behavior in later life has become increasingly important. Over the past 30 years, increases in women's labor force participation have contributed to significant changes in the social institutions of family and work. These changes have had important consequences for the lives of adults in later midlife. Today, many midlife families are headed by dual-eamer couples who find themselves balancing family considerations, including the costs of children in college and the needs of aging parents, with joint labor force decisions. As they approach retirement, they are likely to consider a transition out of the labor force at younger ages and in a different manner from previous cohorts. At the same time, advances in health care and increases in life expectancy mean that older Americans are living longer and healthier lives, a growing proportion of which will be without traditional career-related commiitments. The proposed study will examine the impact of family and health characteristics on labor force transitions, including retirement, using data from the first four waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Building on previous research, we examine the context of work and retirement decisions for individuals and married couples. An important innovation of this project will be the joint consideration of labor force transitions and residential mobility. The results of this research will contribute to the development of an ROI proposal to further study the dynamic nature of family, health, and labor force transitions and their roles in understanding the retirement process.
