Labor Market Transitions Among Older Workers: Job Opportunities, Skills, and Working Conditions

The paper examines job transitions and opportunities among older workers, with emphasis on occupational skill requirements and working conditions. Bystandard measures, older workers fare well, realizing relatively high earnings, having low rates of unemployment and displacement, and choosing in large numbers to exit the labor market or decrease work hours at early ages. These measures, however, overstate the opportunities that would face older workers were they to leave current employer and search for a new job.