ABSTRACT
In the previous two chapters, I have examined income trajectories around labor force exit, focusing on voluntary retirees whose retirement choices are not constrained by job displacement or declines in health. This part of the study complements this analysis by taking a closer look at employment and income trajectories around late-career job loss. Consistent with the counterfactual conceptualization of causality articulated in Chapter 4,1 will not only examine the trajectories of displaced workers, but also compare them to a control group of observationally similar non-displaced workers. This did matching strategy identifies the additional employment/income effects of late-career job loss, that is, beyond those attributable to voluntary retirement dynamics. This chapter prepares the empirical analysis by providing some additional conceptual and theoretical background, by formulating a set of research questions and hypotheses, and by reviewing previous empirical research.
