ABSTRACT
Interest in employment transitions in later life has increased significantly in recent years. In Britain, as in other European countries, this interest is linked as much to issues related to the aging population and the funding of adequate pensions as to issues of unemployment and decreasing labor force participation rates (Auer and Fortuny 2000; Banks et al. 2002; Blundell and Tanner 1999; Campbell 1999; Disney 1999). A growing interdependence of regional and national economies, intensification of competition, industrial restructuring and changes in technology, as well as increased volatility of the labor, capital and product markets have also been observed — all of which have been said to increase the uncertainty of working lives (Francesconi and Golsch 2005; Golsch 2006). One reaction to these changes in Britain has been radical reform of the pension system, by both Tory and Labour Party governments (Whitehouse 1998; Disney et al. 2003). Seen in the broader context of deregulation and flexibility of the British labor market, as well as cutbacks in other areas of welfare state provision during the 1980s and 1990s (Deakin and Reed 2000; Deacon 2000; Dingeldey 1998), such pension reforms led not only to an increase in individual choices but also to more of the burden of labor market exclusion falling on individuals.
