Labour market transitions

The first wave of data from ELSA has provided, and still is providing, evidence on how the characteristics of those who are still in paid work at older ages differ from those who are not. This chapter builds on this evidence by showing the extent to which individuals have moved out of, or indeed into, paid work between the first wave of ELSA in 2002-03 and the second wave of ELSA in 2004-05 (Section 3.1). In addition, we describe the extent to which the characteristics of those whose labour market status has changed differ from those whose labour market status has not changed, focusing on differences by wealth (Section 3.2), pension coverage (Section 3.3) and health (Section 3.4). In Section 3.5, we turn to cross-sectional evidence from 2004-05 on compulsory retirement ages and the extent to which individuals feel constrained by them; the prevalence of reported work-related disabilities; and individuals' assessments of what changes to their working arrangements have been made, or they would like to see, so that they could be better accommodated. Section 3.6 concludes, while the tables in the annex to this chapter contain more comprehensive data on all of the issues raised in the chapter.