Is the Reduction in Older Workers’ Job Tenure a Cause for Concern?

Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we analyze trends in voluntary,
pressured, and forced quits and risk factors associated with each type of quit. We show
that leaving one's age-50 job between ages 50 and 56 in any of the above circumstances
more than doubles the likelihood that an individual will be working part-time at age 60,
relative to a base case of working full-time. Pressured and forced quits also substantially
increase the likelihood that the individual will not be working for pay at that age.
Statistical tests confirm that pressured quits represent a separate and distinct category
with its own risk factors and that they cannot be regarded as a subset of either voluntary
or forced quits.