What drives older adults to continue working after official retirement age?

Abstract The need to ensure the economic wellbeing and quality of life of those who reach the official retirement age is a matter of concern in the world of social services and in social policy making. Since some working older adults may be forced to retire when they reach the official retirement age while others retire voluntarily, the study is based on a dedicated survey among 508 persons who retired both willingly and unwillingly for good after reaching the official retirement age and 437 persons who continued working uninterruptedly. The findings show that the odds of staying on the job after retirement age are contingent on the socio-demographic and health-related characteristics of the older adult. Furthermore, the economic predictors of remaining in the labour force after retirement age depend on how strongly the older adult wishes to retire. Those who continue working after retirement age and those who retire willingly are undifferentiated in the level of financial support that they give others. Comparing older adults who continue working uninterruptedly with those who retire unwillingly, the chances of being among the former are higher among those who are better off before reaching retirement age. These results emphasise the need to extend welfare and financial-support policies to older adults who are forced to retire, in order to minimise the economic blow that this path to retirement causes.