Spousal Influence on Retirement Timing of Dual-earner Couples

• In Event: 349 - Section on Aging and the Life Course Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. Work and Retirement

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of spousal characteristics on the timing of retirement for dual-earner couples. As the timing of retirement has become more irregular, understanding how and when individuals retire has become more difficult. The decision to retire is an individual choice but one's family, particularly one's spouse, can influence the process. And with the work lives of many women becoming much more similar to men, couples must factor in both spouses' savings, social security eligibility, pension assets, and health insurance coverage. Using data from multiple waves of the Health and Retirement Study, I look at how a person's spouse impacts the timing of retirement, net of an individual's economic and personal characteristics. By analyzing retirement across cohorts, I also address how women's increased attachment to the labor force impacts the retirement trajectory of their spouse as well as their own. With separate models for men and women, I employ logistic regression models to see what factors affect the retirement transition and leads individuals within dual earning couples to choose particular pathways towards retirement.

Author

• Jonathan Jackson, University of Maryland