Catherwood LibraryILR School

An extensive study conducted by Professor Phyllis Moen of the Department of Human Development at Cornell University has found that traditional distinctions between the working and retirement phases of people?s working lives have become extremely muddled. Now, a smaller survey of working couples in their sixties and older, has revealed that this may be due in large part to cross-gender differences in career development timelines leading to disagreements between spouses over when to retire. Among the generation currently approaching retirement age, most of the men have worked continuously since completing their education, and are ready to retire---while many of the women took time off to raise children and are only now hitting the prime of their working life.