How to make early retirement work

The last 15 years have seen a large fall in the number of older workers remaining in jobs in Europe and the USA. Much of the drop has been because of early retirement. Governments have encouraged early retirement programmes as a way of creating jobs for younger workers ‐ although this has often been at odds with the objectives of individual companies which have used early retirement to reduce the size of the workforce. Early retirement allows the number of workers to be cut without too much opposition from trade unions or the workforce. Considers the following issues: What factors affect a worker’s decision to take early retirement? How should companies construct schemes to encourage targeted workers to sign up and leave?