ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the main trends in work and retirement in three large countries of the European Union—France, Germany and the United Kingdom—and compares them to trend in the United States to highlight the similarities and differences in the environment workers face, public policy responses, and the resulting life course organization. It describes the changing pattern of employment among the elderly across the countries and links this change to shifting definitions of the life course, that is, to changes in the timing and process of the move between work and retirement. The chapter presents comparative statistics on changing labor force participation of the older population. It discusses an overview of shifting employment structures and examines how early exit from the labor force has been part of the public or private response in each country.
