Partial Retirement as a Separate Mode of Retirement Behavior

Abstract

Partial retirement is a quantitatively important retirement state that shows significant structural differences from behavioral functions of either full retirement or full-time work. Alternative models of the choice of retirement state are estimated on a sample of white married males from the Retirement History Survey, 1967-1973. Findings suggest that, while partial retirement appears to take several different forms, the critical choice for a large number of older workers appears to be that of labor force participation first, with either partial or full-time employment determined conditionally among participants. The model has good explanatory power and conforms to expectations of the effects of various relevant variables on labor supply decisions.