ABSTRACT
The retirement transition has demarcated the last phase of the life course in advanced Western economies. The onset of this transition is marked by one or more of three status changes in individual lives: full exit from the labor force, partial exit from the labor force (usually measured as reduced hours of work), and pension (including Social Security and other private and governmental pensions). These changes can occur simultaneously or in sequence over a protracted period, spanning more than ten years. As such, the retirement transition is not always a crisp, instantaneous, and absorbing change from work to nonwork or from income based on earnings to income based on pensions, entitlements, or personal assets.
