Not the retiring types

As people live for longer and the State Pension age rises, understanding how working lives can be extended in ways which are both sustainable and rewarding has become an increasingly important issue for individuals, employers and policy makers. For individuals, continuing in paid employment can improve financial security both before and after retirement, while for employers and policy makers, longer working lives support the retention of valuable skills, higher labour supply and increased economic growth.

For this research project, we focused on people aged 60 to 69. This is a decade of life during which many people transition from paid work to retirement. At age 60, most people are working (around 68% today), but at age 70 most people are retired (around 80% today). While a rising proportion of people work into their 70s, we chose to focus on those working in their 60s since this is now the experience of the majority of people.

The wider context of modern life in people’s 60s influences decisions about work and retirement. The rising State Pension age, particularly for women, means more people are doing paid work later into their 60s. However, on average, people’s health in their 60s is better today than it was several decades ago, giving many people greater choice about whether to continue working for longer. Other social changes are also important, with people tending to become parents and grandparents later in life, if at all, which can change people’s commitments and priorities in their 60s, such as providing childcare for younger grandchildren. Compared to other age groups, it is also in people’s 50s and 60s that both women and men are most likely to be providing unpaid care for family members or friends.

While existing research often focuses on retirement, pension saving or labour market participation, this study examined how people in their 60s successfully reshaped work to extend their career, on terms which suited their changing needs and priorities. We focused on a ‘broad middle’ of workers, defined as those who retain some choice about whether and how to continue working in their 60s but whose decisions are still likely to be influenced by workplace practices, financial resources and public policy.

Research participants were purposively selected because they had already made a significant employment change. The sample was therefore not intended to be representative of all workers in their 60s. Rather, it was designed to capture decision making and experiences across four types of change:

• Moving into part-time work or reducing working hours
• Moving into self-employment
• Career change, such as moving role or sector
• Returning to paid work from retirement (sometimes referred to as ‘unretirement’)

The data is drawn from 20 in-depth career narrative interviews with workers aged 60 to 69. By exploring participants’ work histories, life experiences and recent career decisions, the research sought to understand not only what changes people made, but why they made them, how they navigated those changes, what barriers or challenges they encountered, and what enabled them to do so successfully.