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BiB Working Paper 3/2020 • 16.11.2020Transition to Retirement from a Couples’ Perspective
Due to the increasing share of older dual-earner couples, more and more couples are asking themselves how to coordinate their transition to retirement. This also includes whether a joint or individual retirement transition is realised and which factors play a role in the process. This is a complex coordination process that includes professional, familial and relationship aspects, which are interwoven with each other. In recent years, the number of research papers on retirement transitions based on couple decision has increased. This working paper provides an overview of the state of research on this rather new subject of investigation, covering conceptual, theoretical and methodological aspects, and makes recommendations for the research practice.
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In many countries, an increase can be observed in the employment rates of older women, which is accompanied by an increase also in the share of dual-earner couples. For example, while 20 years ago in Germany less than one in four couples aged 50-69 was part of the labour force in 2018 their share was already more than 50 percent. As a result, the transition to retirement is increasingly becoming a matter that affects the two spouses in a similar way and which is discussed jointly.
Analysis of the retirement transition is also relevant for social policy
Among others, the analysis has shown that couples synchronise their retirement transitions. This has implications for many political, economic and social issues. “Analysing retirement transitions from a couple's perspective contributes to a better understanding of social trends and is highly relevant for employers and organisations as well as for the political realm, particularly for labour market and pension policies,” emphasises the author of the paper, BiB researcher Dr. Laura Konzelmann.
Timing difference in the retirement transition of couples
The transition to retirement is a couple´s decision-making process and is viewed from a life course perspective. In addition to the changing image of retirement, its multi-layered character with many facets of couple-related aspects is also emphasised.
The focus of interest is on the temporal difference in entry into retirement and the question of which factors are associated with this. In the literature, the term ‘joint retirement’ is frequently being used in this context. “This is generally defined as the coordinated transition from working life to the retirement phase,” explains Dr. Konzelmann.
In order to better understand the background for a joint or an individual transition into retirement, various socio-demographic and attitude-based factors on individual and on couple level as well as findings on the empirical evidence are introduced.
Laura Konzelmann (2020): Couples’ Transition to Retirement: The Current State of Research and Future Pathways. BiB Working Paper 3/2020