Reconstructing Retirement: Work and Welfare in the UK and USA

Description

Retirement is being 'reconstructed', with the UK following the US path of abolishing mandatory retirement and increasing state pension ages. This timely book assesses prospects for work and retirement at age 65-plus in the UK and US. It is essential reading for researchers, students and practitioners interested in the late careers and the future of retirement.

David Lain is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Brighton. His research on older workers and retirement has led to a series of journal articles, book chapters, reports, media appearances and presentations to international policy audiences. He led the ESRC `Rethinking Retirement' Seminar Series and received a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship in 2011.

"This book is to be highly recommended as making an important contribution to understanding the shifting nature of retirement. Policymakers and older people's advocacy organizations would be well advised to carefully weigh its implications, striking as it does a welcome and rare cautionary note." Journal of Ageing and Social Policy "I recommend Lain's work to all occupational scientists interested in work and retirement, or more generally, in the ways government policy actively and passively influences people's occupational opportunities, choices, and experiences. These are indeed matters of occupational justice." - Journal of Occupational Science "This is a very good book on an important and topical subject, which should form the basis of any critical assessment of the rights and wrongs of early retirement" Journal of Social Policy "The book is very well written and can also be of interest to anyone wishing to learn more about social determinants of work in later life." Journal of Population Ageing "Thought provoking and much needed response to those who are currently attempting to put far too positive a spin on projected trends in work and retirement policy." John Williamson, Boston College, USA "Once they read this book, policy makers, thought-leaders in the fields of aging, and scholars should feel compelled to engage in difficult conversations about the extent to which employment pathways can and do lead to quality jobs that align well with older adults' preferences and priorities." The Gerontologist "David Lain conducts a thorough and masterful comparison of US and UK policies and practices shaping the need, and the opportunities, to work beyond age 65." Madonna Harrington Meyer, Syracuse University and author of Grandmothers at Work: Juggling Families and Jobs "A powerful and original analysis of the different employment trajectories of older people in the UK and the US. The comparison illustrates the challenges of extending working lives in each country and the unequal outcomes that are likely to occur for individuals." Sarah Vickerstaff, University of Kent