The Impact of Hours Flexibility on Career Employment, Bridge Jobs, and the Timing of Retirement

38 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2015

See all articles by Kevin E. Cahill

Kevin E. Cahill

Boston College

Michael D. Giandrea

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Joseph F. Quinn

Boston College - Department of Economics

Date Written: February 12, 2014

Abstract

To what extent does hours flexibility in career employment impact the retirement process? Workplace flexibility policies have the potential to improve both the welfare of employees and the business outcomes of employers. These policies, and hours flexibility in particular for older Americans, have also been touted as a way to reduce turnover. For older Americans, reductions in turnover could mean more years in career employment, fewer years in bridge employment, and little or no impact on the timing of retirement. Alternatively, hours flexibility in career employment could lead to longer working lives and delayed retirements. The distinction between the two outcomes is important if hours flexibility policies, such as phased retirement, are to be considered an option for alleviating the strains of an aging society. This paper describes how hours flexibility in career employment impacts the retirement patterns of older Americans. We use data on three cohorts of older Americans from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a large nationally-representative dataset that began in 1992. We explore the extent to which hours flexibility arrangements are available and utilized in career employment and explore the extent to which such arrangements impact job transitions later in life. We find that bridge job prevalence is higher among those with access to hours flexibility in career employment compared to those without hours flexibility. Further, while we find mixed evidence that hours flexibility extends time in career employment, we do find that hours flexibility in career employment is associated with longer tenure on bridge jobs. Taken together these results suggest that hours flexibility in career employment is associated with extended work lives, particularly in post-career employment.

Keywords: Economics of Aging, Partial Retirement, Gradual Retirement

JEL Classification: J26, J14, J32, H55

Suggested Citation

Cahill, Kevin E. and Giandrea, Michael D. and Quinn, Joseph F., The Impact of Hours Flexibility on Career Employment, Bridge Jobs, and the Timing of Retirement (February 12, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2645851 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2645851

Kevin E. Cahill (Contact Author)

Boston College ( email )

Chestnut Hill, MA 02167
United States

Michael D. Giandrea

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE
Washington, DC, 20212-0001
United States

Joseph F. Quinn

Boston College - Department of Economics ( email )

140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
United States

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