Volume 26, Number 1 (Winter) 1991
Chirikos, Thomas N. and Gilbert Nestel. 1991. "Occupational Differences in the Ability of Men to Delay Retirement." Journal of Human Resources 26(1):1-26.
Whether the functional capacity of older men to remain at work differs by occupational assignment is an important consideration in judging policies designed to advance the age of retirement. A competing-risk model of retirement, disability and death is used to test hypotheses about the influence of physically strenuous work on the ability to delay retirement. Time-dependent hazard rate functions are estimated with panel data on a nationally representative sample of older American males. Physical job requirements and health conditions are found to affect the likelihood of retiring in a disabled state. However, projections of the fractions of workers in physically strenuous and sedentary job categories that are likely to encounter difficulty in staying in the labor force do not differ greatly. Special policy consideration of workers in nonsedentary occupations may therefore be questioned.
Thomas N. Chirikos is a professor of health economics at the University of South Florida and Gilbert Nestel is a research scientist at Ohio State University. They thank Karen Tracy, Lynn Casto, and Michael Motto for programming assistance in the preparation of this paper. They also thank two anonymous referees for helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. This research was supported in part by Grants 85ASPE 140A and 10-P-98315-5-01 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The usual disclaimers apply. Address al correspondences to: Professor Thomas N. Chirikos, Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, MHH104,133031 Bruce Downs BLVD., Tampa, Florida, 33612.
© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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