CDHA CAAR

A. “The Evolution of Retirement as Systematic Ageism,” by Lynn McDonald (SEDAP Working Paper No. 292, March 2012, .pdf format, 31p.)

Abstract:

Questions that people ask, when they hear that mandatory retirement has been repealing include: will people be forced to toil longer to stay financially healthy? Will they change careers later in life to keep their interest in a subject or explore new interests? How will working longer affect their health? How will much older people affect the ambitions and working styles of younger colleagues? Will companies have to change their health and benefit plans to accommodate older people? This chapter discusses implications for both individuals and companies about hiring/retaining workers beyond the mandatory retirement age including differences in power relationships that place older workers who love and want to stay in their job in a compromised position. Issues related to international political economy will be addressed.

socserv.mcmaster.ca/sedap/p/sedap292.pdf

B. “Retirement Lost?” by Lynn McDonald and Peter Donahue (SEDAP Working Paper No. 291, March 2012, .pdf format, 46p.)

Abstract:

In this paper we raise the question, as to whether retirement is lost as we currently know it in Canada. Here we look at the retirement research according to the scope of retirement and the new retirement, possible theoretical developments, the timing of transitions into retirement and life as a retiree including the quality of pensions. On the basis of this selected review we propose that retirement is undergoing modifications based on several trends that commenced before the 2008 economic downturn. The data would appear to lean towards the emergence of a different retirement, insofar as the collective Canadian vision of retirement is lost, notwithstanding the economic meltdown in global markets.

socserv.mcmaster.ca/sedap/p/sedap291.pdf