What Is Retirement? A Review and Assessment of Alternative Concepts and Measures

Abstract

Since the concept of retirement is prominent in both popular thinking and academic studies it would be helpful if the notion were analytically sound, could be measured with precision, and would make possible comparisons of patterns of retirement over time and among different populations. This paper reviews and assesses the many concepts and measures that have been proposed, summarizing them in groupings that reflect non-participation or reduced participation in the labour force, receipt of pension income, end-of-career employment, selfassessed retirement, or combinations of those characteristics. It concludes that there is no agreed measure and that no one measure dominates. Instead, new measures continue to be proposed to take account of additional refinements as new data sets become available, thereby further restricting possible comparisons. The confusing array of definitions reflects the practical problem that underlies the concept of retirement: it is an essentially negative notion, a notion of what people are not doing -namely, that they are not working. A more positive approach would be to focus instead on what people are doing, including especially their involvement in non-market activities that are socially productive, even if those activities do not contribute to national income as conventionally measured.Key Words: concepts of retirement, measures of retirement JEL Classification: J26 Résumé:Puisque que la notion de retraite est à la mode dans la pensée populaire et dans les études académiques, il serait utile de définir un concept analytiquement pertinent que l'on puisse mesurer avec précision afin de comparer les tendances à travers le temps et les différents groupes de population. Cet essaie revoit et évalue les différents concepts et mesures qui ont été proposés, en considérant les regroupements reflétant l'absence ou une participation réduite à la population active, les bénéficiaires de prestation de retraite, les emplois de fin de carrière, le statut de retraite auto-évalué, ou d'une combinaison de ces caractéristiques. La conclusion est qu'il n'existe aucun consensus pour aucune de ces mesures. Au contraire, de nouvelles mesures continuent d'être proposées afin de mieux prendre en compte les raffinements du concept mesurables dans les séries de données nouvellement parues, compliquant davantage les comparaisons possibles. Ce large éventail de définitions reflète les problèmes pratiques derrière la notion de retraite: c'est essentiellement un concept qui se définit par la négative, une notion qui regroupe ce que les gens ne font pas -à savoir, qui ne travaille pas. Une approche plus positive viserait à se concentrer sur que les gens font, en particulier sur les activités non marchandes qui sont socialement productives, même si ces dernières ne contribuent pas au revenu national tel qu'il est conventionnellement mesuré.

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