ABSTRACT
The industrialization of society has shifted the relationship of work and retirement. The establishment of a public retirement system in Germany is generally considered to be a major development in social policy, Bismarck's generosity was tempered by his retirement age of 70 years old. Bismarck's retirement promise was more of a reward to people who had lived beyond their life expectancy than a realistic expectation for the average worker. Since World War II, the life expectancy of the aged has grown at a faster rate than life expectancy at birth, and the older the age the faster the rate of increase has been. If in fact some of the differences in life expectancy between the sexes is due to factors that can be controlled, future increases in life expectancy may accrue more to men than to women who are already presumably not as far from their natural life span.
