The empirical research about the labour force participation of older people has received increasing attention since the 1990s in the UK as there are growing concerns about the ageing of the population and the level of finance needed to support the elderly. Therefore, this thesis analyses main determinants associated with the retirement decisions of both men and women using discrete choice models. Age, health, education attainments, unearned income and pension eligibility are the most important determinants influencing the likelihood of retirement. On the other hand, the effects of other factors, such as hourly earnings, marital status, education, housing tenure, and other individual and household characteristics differ from 1991 to 2013. The other underlying factor that the study examines is the influence of gender disparity on retirement decisions of older people using nonlinear decomposition methods and which factors cause gender gap in retirement decisions. The gender disparity influenced by demographic and financial factors has not been significantly reduced over time. Age, hourly earnings, non-labour income and pension eligibility increase the gender gap, whereas education, good health conditions and being a homeowner act to reduce the gender gap in the retirement process. Moreover, this thesis points out the importance of partial retirement in the British labour market, which has been less subject to research in the UK, and it is found as an important concept to promote longer working lives among older people. Age, education and crisis period were found to be important determinants of partial retirement, while poor health, household income levels, and marital status, were found to be insignificant.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2005. / Title from PDF title page screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 172-186)