Social differentiation in later life: Exploring the interaction between (housing) wealth and retirement trajectories in Japan and the UK.

How do you decide when to retire in a society like Britain where the formal ‘retirement age’ no longer exists? Do you have a big enough pension and savings to retire early? Does your employer want you to continue working after you reach 65? Or are you planning to sell your house to cover the cost of the post-retirement life?

The process of retirement is becoming more complex and differentiated in terms of timing and financial resources. In many advanced economies, active ageing policies encourage older workers to remain in the labour market longer. However, the reasons and opportunities to do so depend on both institutional systems and individual capital. One of the outcomes is widening social inequality among older households.

As part of an Economics and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded collaborative project, we bring together scholars and stakeholders with different disciplinary backgrounds of social policy, economics, social gerontology and management to explore social differentiation in later life - in particular, transition to retirement, wealth and inequality - in the contrasting welfare systems of the UK and Japan. 

Provisional programme (TBC)

09:00-10.00  Work and retirement transition 

“Ageing workforce and necessity to work under the precarious conditions in a coordinated v liberal market economy”  
Misa Izuhara (University of Bristol), Matt Flynn (University of Hull) & Atsuhiro Yamada (Keio University) 

“What have we learnt from PRO? Learning from Bristol-based workshops supporting people at the time of retirement transition” 
Jo Stokes (LinkAge Community Services Manager, Age UK Bristol) 

10.30-12.00 Ageing, wealth and inequality 

“The impact of house price shocks on elderly labour supply in Japan” 
Shinichiro Iwata (Kanagawa University) and Junya Hamaaki (Hosei University) 

“The impact of Covid-19 on the UK wealth distribution” 
James Smith (The Resolution Foundation) 

“Comparative perspectives on ageing, retirement, and social connections in the UK and Japan” 
Brian Beach (University College London) 

Please note, this is an online workshop. Joining details will be emailed to you 24 hours before the event. Register for this event here.

 

Image credit: http://401kcalculator.org