Pathways to early retirement: Agency and structure in the British Civil Service'

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Pathways to early retirement Agency and
structure in the British Civil Service.

• Paul Higgs, Centre for Behavioural and Social
  Sciences in Medicine, UCL

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Research team

• Paul Higgs, Gill Mein, Jane Ferrie, Martin Hyde
  James Nazroo.

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Background

• Old age and retirement
• Later life and the third age
• Health and life expectancy
• Income and the expansion of leisure

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Percentage of adult male life spent in retirement
(UK)
Sources First report of the pensions commission
2004 Blondal and Scarpetta, 1999
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Perceived age at which middle age ends and at
which old age begins
Source ELSA
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Perceived age at which middle age ends and at
which old age begins
Source ELSA
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The Study

• A sub-sample of the Whitehall II study
• 60 participants aged 55 years and over
• Purposively sampled
• Early retired
• Normal retirement at 60 years
• Still working

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Staying at work Ideal Types
Source Higgs et al, 2003
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Financially attached to work

• Ill be putting the lad through three years at
  university. Come on, my pension as a senior Civil
  Servant, theres my wife working, there are
  people putting children through university that
  earn a damn sight less than I will get for my
  pension, so Ive got to get this into
  perspective. On the other hand, erm, Id still
  like to maintain something of the standard of
  living to which Ive become accustomed to.
• Mr J, 59, Senior civil servant

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Enjoys work

• Ive been paid to do my hobby every time.
• Mr B, 59, Administrative grade
• My apprehension was that I wasnt going to be
  as happy retired as I was working because I
  enjoyed work it was just I felt that life was not
  so satisfying without work, because work had
  become a big part of my life.
• Mr A, 60 Senior civil servant

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Traditional work ethic

• The work I was doing all those years had been
  virtually quashedI was sixty and thats when
  they push you out, you seeSo you just fall in
  place. Youre sixty, you retire, and theres no
  discussion
• Mr C, 59, Professional grade

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Labour market exit Ideal types
Source Higgs et al, 2003
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Financial exit

• The size of the packageand so I started
  buying the years, well, really quite late, so as
  soon as the package came along, and they agreed
  to make up, well, they made up six yearsI
  could earn enough money with the pension I get
  for the next few years and then I shall
  gracefully retire altogether
• Mrs D, 58, Senior civil servant

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Third Age exit

• When you are working you have to do the job,
  when you retire, you do what you want to do, you
  havent got to do anything have you really.
• Mrs L, 59, Clerical grade

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Work dissatisfaction exit

• Well it is quite stressful that constant change,
  because you would get used to one thing and then
  it would change to something else. The methods
  would keep changing - roles would keep changing
  I mean even the technical side kept changing, and
  it still is. I mean, I was talking to someone
  only on Saturday, who is still there and he was
  saying, you did the good thing, didnt you,
  getting out.
• Mrs H, 57, Administrative grade

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Poor health exit

• If had been given the opportunity to stay on, I
  wouldnt have done it, em, because I am now
  certain that there are situations which have got
  to be faced up to at home, and we have been
  living on a knife edge in terms of my working.
• Mrs N, 59, Senior civil servant

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Structure and Agency

• Were they pushed?
• - early retirement because dissatisfied
• Did they choose?
• - emphasis on agency
• Did they jump?
• - motivated by the package
• Are they being pulled?
• - cultural perceptions of later life

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Conclusions

• Differentiation of later life
• Cultural spaces of retirement
• Attitudes and perceptions of retirement

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A last word

• Yes, all these others had gone, at the best
  time of their lives and I thought, hang on, Im
  missing out on this!
• Mr O, 58 Administrative grade