The Bridge Jobs Study: Non-Traditional Retirement Options
Kevin Cahill, Joseph Quinn, and Michael Giandrea

The Bridge Jobs Study examined the extent to which today's older workers are choosing nontraditional paths to retirement compared to earlier cohorts of retirees. The reasons why older Americans stay working later in life were explored and the economic outcomes of nontraditional retirements were documented.

This study defined full time career jobs as those that last at least 10 years and consist of at least 1,600 hours per year. A bridge job follows a full-time career and is either part time or lasts fewer than ten years, or both.

Key Research Questions:

Why are many of today's retirees exiting the workforce gradually, in stages, and what are the economic consequences of doing so?

What are the characteristics of older Americans who stay working later in life, and what are the characteristics of the jobs and work they choose?

To what extent is the decision to work voluntary and to what extent are financial needs kepping older workers in the labor force?

Study Status:

Study completed.

Selected Findings:

The majority of men and women are using bridge jobs to transition from full time employment to full time retirement: 73% of men and 46% of women ages 51-61 in 1992 had a full-time career job; by 2004, among those who had already left full-time careers, 60 percent of men and women worked on a bridge job after leaving a career job; more than half of those bridge jobs were part time.

Younger workers were most likely than older workers to move to bridge jobs; healthier workers (those who rated their health as excellent or very good) were most likely to take on bridge jobs.

Publications:

The findings of the Bridge Jobs Study are discussed in Down Shifting: The Role of Bridge Jobs after Career Employment (a Center Issue Brief to appear in Spring, 2007) and in Cahill, K.E., Giandrea, M.D. & Quinn, J.F. (2006). Retirement patterns from career employment. The Gerontologist, 46(4), 514-523.