Publications

Center for
Retirement Research
at Boston College
Hovey House
140 Commonwealth
Chestnut Hill
MA 02467-3808

617-552-1762 TEL
617-552-0191 FAX
crr@bc.edu

Briefs

Briefs offer concise and insightful analyses of topical issues.

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What Is the Average Retirement Age?

by Alicia H. Munnell

August 2011

IB#11-11

Introduction

Since working longer is the key to a secure retirement for the vast majority of older Americans, it is useful to take a look at labor force trends for those under and over age 65 for the last century.

This brief proceeds in three steps. The first section describes the long-run decline in labor force participation of men. The second looks at the turnaround that began in the mid-1980s. The third section discusses the trends for women, which combine their increasing labor force activity, on the one hand, and incentives to retire, on the other...

For full brief

Alicia H. Munnell is the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and Peter F. Drucker Professor of Management Sciences in Boston College’s Carroll School of Management.

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