Women’s Experiences of Paid Work and Planning for Retirement 

A note on methods used in this section

Questions about women's retirement status were asked in M4. Respondents were categorised as either retired or not retired. Women who were not retired indicated when they would like to retire and when they expected to retire. Women in the retired group gave the year when they had retired. The occupation of those who had already retired by M4 was determined by referring to M1, in which participants were asked 'What is/was your main occupation'. The occupation of women in the not-retired group was obtained from M4. Hours of paid work for the retired group were obtained from M1, whereas the hours of paid work for the not-retired group were obtained from M4. The data are cross-sectional and weighted for area. Other comparisons use M4 responses.

Retirement status and age of retirement

At the time of the fourth survey in 2004, 65% of ALSWH mid-age respondents (then aged 53-58) said they were not retired. Just over 10% said they were partially retired, and about 20% had already retired (Figure 7). A small number retired more than twenty years ago - although most would probably have been in unpaid work during that time - and a few had never had a paid job.

Figure 7: Retirement status of ALSWH mid-age women, aged 53-58, in 2004 (N=10,519)

The ALSWH survey asked in what year the participants retired and it is therefore possible to calculate how old they were at retirement. Figure 8 shows the percentage who retired in their late teens and early twenties, which were the childbearing years for this generation.

Figure 8: Actual ages at retirement, mid-age women already retired in 2004

Figure 8 shows a flattening out of the incidence of retirement when the women were in their thirties until the rate began rising again in the mid forties. The data for ages 53 to 58 are incomplete because this represents the five year age span of the cohort at M4.

Retirement status and personal characteristics

There are significant associations between women's personal relationships and their retirement. Table 1 shows personal characteristics according to retirement status, where ALSWH mid-age participants have been categorised according to whether they were retired or not retired in 2004. 'Retired' is defined here as completely retired. 'Not retired' therefore includes women who reported that they were partially retired.

Generally speaking, women who had a partner were more likely to be retired than those who were on their own, but the effect of formal marriage was stronger than being in a de facto relationship. Women who were married or widowed were more likely to be completely retired than other women, including those who were separated or divorced.

Lesbian women in a de facto relationship were the least likely to be retired but ALSWH data here are based on a small number. Women who had never married and were not in a relationship were very unlikely to be retired in their fifties.

Women's 'social class', as represented by education and occupation, was also associated with their retirement decisions. Those with more educational qualifications were more likely to remain working in their fifties than women with less education. Almost 60% of all ALSWH participants who said that they had completely retired by 2004 also reported that they had left school at year 10 or earlier.

Similarly, women in occupations requiring fewer qualifications were more likely to report that they were completely retired. Women managers, administrators, professionals and paraprofessionals were more likely to be working in their fifties than women who reported at M1 in 1996 that they were in trade, clerical or manual occupations.

In regard to the kind of household in which the women lived, there was a greater likelihood that women living with dependent children under 16 years of age would still be working.

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Note that numbers of retired and not retired vary slightly, principally due to missing responses to particular survey questions.

Retirement status according to area of residence is shown in Table 2. There was no difference in the relative percentages of retired women living in urban and large rural centres, but women in small rural centres were more likely to be retired compared both to women in other rural and remote areas, as well as those in more densely populated centres.

Retirement and caregiving

As shown in Table 3 below, retired mid-age women were more likely to be providing care for someone who lived with them than mid-age women who were not retired.

As might be expected, retired caregivers provided greater amounts of care than caregivers who were not retired. Nonetheless it is of note that, for example, almost 30% of women who were not retired were regularly providing care for someone who was ill, disabled or frail, either living with them or living elsewhere.

Similarly, retired women were more likely to be looking after grandchildren or, less commonly, other people's children. But, again, more than 40% of all women who said they were not retired were providing childcare at least occasionally.

Retirement and paid work

Over half of the women who were retired at M4 had not been in paid work at M1. This suggests that a weak attachment to the labour market in their forties is associated with 'early' retirement for many women, although the fact that 16% of women who were not retired at M4 had not been in paid work at M1, indicates that this is certainly not the case for all mid-age women.

The data in Table 5 also suggest that the more hours of paid work women were doing at M1, the less likely they were to be retired at M4.

Section 6 of this report provides further information about the characteristics of women with particular patterns of paid work.