Introduction

In Chapter Two, we examined the increasing financial pressures to work past age 65 in both the UK and the US. As we saw, changes to retirement incomes began earlier in the US. However, it is also important to note that alongside these changes, the US was seeking to alter the regulation of work and retirement. A key moment in this regard was the abolition of mandatory retirement in 1986. As we shall see in this chapter, this move prohibited employers from getting rid of staff on the basis of their age, and sought to encourage individuals – particularly those with low incomes – to continue working. The UK followed the US by restricting the use of compulsory retirement ages in 2011. In both countries, the abolition of mandatory retirement arguably represented an example of what Streeck and Thelen (2005) call ‘conversion’ in policymaking. Legislation was initially introduced to protect individuals from age discrimination, but when it was amended, it became a policy to extend working lives. Alongside this, both countries altered the regulation of retirement incomes so that people could take their pensions while working. This chapter first reviews these changes. It starts by examining the period up to the late 1970s, when the US was seeking to address age discrimination and the UK was encouraging early retirement. We then examine changes since the late 1970s/1980s in both countries. Finally, the chapter examines the impact of age discrimination legislation, and considers the impact that this may have on employment beyond age 65.

Age discrimination and the position of older workers up to the 1970s

UK

It is important to note that before the expansion of pensions, the fear of poverty meant that few workers retired voluntarily. Two thirds of men over 65 in Britain were employed at the turn of the 19th century (Phillipson, 1982: 18). Employers often retained workers in older age, moving those engaged in physically arduous employment into ‘light work’ for the remaining years of their life. For those unable to work, the prospects were bleak – around one in 10 of the population aged over 65 lived in a workhouse, and by age 70, one in five would be a pauper (Phillipson, 1982).