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Research synthesized from three studies of the Finnish labor market indicates that a rapidly changing working life in Finland (and the rest of Europe) sets many different challenges for the workforce. In Finland, the population is even more aged than in the other European Union (EU) member states, and the transition of older workers to retirement is also happening, on average, faster than in other EU countries. Demand in the Finnish labor market is directed to the younger, and usually more educated group, while the supply comes increasingly from the aging group. Current developments in demographic structure and the eagerness of employees to take early retirement have stimulated the debate over ways of maintaining working capacity. Education and training is considered essential for older workers (aged 45 and over). A large proportion of these workers should be retrained or given supplementary training to avoid their early retirement. On the other hand, the situation of younger and more highly educated workers is not easy either. Many younger workers find themselves over-educated and under-employed, since a high level of education does not guarantee sufficient occupational know-how. Employment qualifications favored by employers are work experience, personality, and academic credentials. The challenge to education and labor policy in Finland and the EU will be to determine how to balance the work experience of older workers and the academic knowledge of younger workers. (KC)

A project was undertaken to evaluate existing models of early retirement incentive programs (ERIPs) and recommend an ERIP for New Jersey's Mercer County Community College (MCCC). The following categories of ERIPs were reviewed: state plans for New York and Minnesota; K-12 school districts plans at the Castro Valley Unified School District and 48 school divisions in Saskatchewan (Canada); university programs at the University of Missouri, University of California, University of Virginia, and Quebec's McGill University (Canada); and five New Jersey county college programs at Camden County College, Cumberland County College, Middlesex County College, and Gloucester County College, as well as New York's Dutchess County College. Based an analysis of these ERIPs, a two-track program was recommended for MCCC that would offer faculty the option to accept immediate early retirement (Plan A) or a transitional approach of reduced workload from one to six semesters (Plan B). The recommended program also contained the following characteristics: (1) faculty should be 55 years or older and have completed 25 years of service at the college to participate; (2) they should have a 3-month window in which to choose to participate; (3) Plan A would provide 2% of the final year's salary times the number of years employed, while Plan B would allow faculty to teach half load at 60% of salary; and (4) other incentives would include life-time health benefits, Internet access, and free tuition and fees. Contains 13 references. (BCY)

This paper describes a spreadsheet-based faculty flow model developed and implemented at the University of Calgary (Canada) to analyze faculty retirement, turnover, and salary issues. The study examined whether, given expected faculty turnover, the current salary increment system was sustainable in a stable or declining funding environment, and whether further early retirement incentives would be necessary. The model, called the Academic Staff Resource Projection Model, is based on the Markov chain approach to project faculty movement out four years. It was developed using Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet software. Nine alternative policies and assumptions were tested concerning: (1) retirements for ages 55 to 70; (2) resignation rates by years of service; (3) age distribution of newly hired staff; (4) annual attrition of one rank replaced by another rank; (5) overall attrition replacement ratio; (6) adjustments to allow for addition or elimination of academic programs; (7) starting salaries; (8) salary schedule information; and (9) rate of promotion to next rank. Six figures and flow charts illustrate the model and show the spreadsheet file structure and flows. Three appendixes include a policy variables worksheet, a salary schedule, and an age distribution schedule. (Contains 16 references.) (CH)

This paper reviews legal risks associated with staff layoffs at institutions of higher education and methods for managing those risks and describes planning steps designed to minimize institutional legal exposure. Legal risks include claims of breach of contract, discrimination, tortious conduct, and violation of labor laws, collective bargaining agreements, and other legal obligations. Well-managed institutions exhibit three common characteristics in planning and implementing staff layoffs: (1) a team approach to decision-making; (2) development of well-crafted and consistently administered personnel policies before initiation of the layoff process; and (3) attentiveness to existing and potential problem cases. Prior to implementing staff layoffs, institutions should: first, ascertain the reasons for and magnitude of the downsizing; second, prepare to counteract the argument that downsizing can be avoided by increasing revenues or cutting expenditures elsewhere; and third, prepare to show that the institution has considered alternative reductions in nonpersonnel expenditures, e.g., furloughs; reduced work time; hiring freezes and elimination of positions through attrition; and negotiated retirements. Preparation for the least disruptive layoff process requires advance communication with affected employees, consideration of quantitative and qualitative layoff criteria, a pre-implementation review, and establishment of an acceptable appeals process. Provision of severance benefits to affected employees and attention to the residual effects on remaining employees are components of a prudent risk management strategy. (CK)

Seven major British employing organizations were surveyed regarding their attitudes toward early retirement, attachment to/subsequent experiences in the labor market, financial situation, and the types of advice and support available to them. The overall response rate was 60% (1,012 returned questionnaires). Of the respondents, 53% took early retirement voluntarily, 31% said their retirement was partly voluntary, and 15% felt coerced into early retirement. At their time of retirement, only 28% of the respondents planned to find another job. Over time, however, 47% had looked for another job. Of those individuals, 49% found a job they considered satisfactory, 16% found a job with which they were not satisfied, and 34% found no job. Ninety-two percent of the respondents were receiving a company pension, and 63% reported income from savings/investments. Approximately two-thirds of the respondents had received some advice/support from the organization from which they were retiring. When asked how they regarded their early retirement in retrospect, 69% of the respondents considered it a good thing, 25% considered it tolerable, and 14% considered it a disaster. (Contains 24 tables and 16 references.) (MN)

Due to state revenue shortfalls and mandated Medicaid and welfare expenditures, substantial cuts were made in state aid to higher education institutions in Maryland in 1992. To meet the fiscal crisis, Prince George's Community College (PGCC) implemented several cost containment measures that had been considered, but not acted upon, in the past. These included freezes on hiring and equipment purchases and the elimination of all conference travel, professional development and training events. An employee furlough plan was implemented, with 12-month employees losing 7 days, and 10-month employees losing 5. Additionally, an Instructional Services Fee (IFS) was implemented in spring 1992 to replace 271 separate student fees, raising revenue for the school through a system of three fee levels based on the expense of offering given courses. In 1993, three additional strategies were implemented to ensure that PGCC would meet its widening deficits. The first strategy was administrative reorganization, in which seven administrative positions were abolished (representing a 17% decrease) through combining divisions or offices within the school. The second strategy was a voluntary resignation incentive program offered to employees with a minimum of 20 years of service. Seventeen (10%) of those eligible applied and were approved. The third strategy involved cost savings through downsizing efforts, including eliminating vacant positions from the operating budget and reducing hours of operation, and resulted in the elimination of 17 full-time and 10 part-time classified staff positions. (MAB)

Higher salaries and improved working conditions have combined to make teaching a more attractive profession and to reduce teacher turnover rates. At the same time, however, the teaching work force has aged and faces problems in retirement programs. All levels of government should work with interested groups to find solutions to six major problems associated with retirement programs: financial inviability, conflicting state and federal policies, lack of portability of plans, inflexibility, lack of participant control, and inequity between districts. One national and 50 state commissions, which would include all interested parties, should be formed to find solutions to the problems of teacher retirement policies. In many states, high ratios of retired to working teachers threaten the viability of pension funds. Also, some states have shifted more of the financial burden for pension plans to teachers. Many school boards have used early retirement incentives to save money and give teachers more flexibility. However, these efforts often conflict with state policies designed to promote teacher longevity. A national survey should examine this state-local conflict and the negative aspects of early retirement programs. A nationwide 5-year vesting period, greater flexibility, and more individual control are possible solutions to problems in teacher retirement systems. (Contains 16 references.) (JPT)

Findings of a national survey that examined retirement and retiree health benefits provisions are presented in this document. A 1990-91 survey mailed to all state and local retirement plans in which education employees participate elicited responses from 53 state-sponsored and 5 local-sponsored plans (representing a total active membership of 6.4 million employees). The latest in the National Education Association's 20-year-old series, this report includes a section on health benefits provisions, with 24 of the plans reporting a health insurance option for retirees. Characteristics of plans for education employees only and those for all public employee retirees and their varying benefits are described. The following other areas are discussed: retirement eligibility (normal retirement age, early retirement age, vesting, portability); legislation and governance (composition and authority of boards of trustees, recent pension legislation); and funding (employee and employer contributions, investment policies). Thirty-one tables are included. Appendices contain benefit formula/accrual rates, retirement eligibility requirements, employee and employer contribution rates, plan membership and financial information, and retirement system health insurance information. (LMI)

Numerous studies have analyzed the determinants of early retirement or retirement on time among older men and women. However, not many studies of the determinants of retirement have analyzed racial and gender differences, both between and within groups. Using data from the 1968-1987 interview waves of the Panel Studies of Income Dynamics, this study analyzed the racial and gender differences in timing, and factors associated with the retirement of a sample of 528 older workers. The analysis of the timing of retirement indicated that women are more likely to be retired than men by ages 65-66, and that black males past age 60 have a lower retirement rate than white males. Multivariate analysis also indicated that a black male's retirement is associated with a wider variety of factors than a white male's retirement. A female worker's decision to retire appears to be influenced by a smaller number of variables than that of her male counterpart. Most important, however, is the finding that an older worker's retirement is largely influenced by his or her family's economic needs. This study differs from earlier studies of retirement in the following aspects. First, it utilized an event-history approach for a prospective analysis of determinants of retirement using longitudinal panel data. Second, in its multivariate analysis, this study simultaneously controlled for variables which represented characteristics of both individual workers and their families. (LLL)

A study tested the feasibility of recruiting career switchers, early leavers and retirees from government and military service to teaching. The study also documented the need for a National Center for Transition to Teaching (NCTTT). The effort established a National Board of Advisors consisting of 17 high-level military, government, and university educators. Exploratory outreach consisted of advertising, direct mail, a recruitment meeting, and collateral activities. Project findings indicated that certain conventional recruitment methods can attract interest. Advertising in a Washington-area chain of military weeklies generated 143 inquiries and a poster campaign to 450 government and military offices resulted in 3 inquiries a week. In addition educators who had developed similar programs offered encouragement and specific cautions. Finally, high-level military and government officials endorsed efforts to enable the transition of their personnel into teaching careers. In addition the study revealed that there are programs for these recruits but that they tend to operate in isolation from each other. The study findings also suggested that institutionalization of a NCTTT should be decoupled from recruitment and that such a Center should focus more on research, placement, information clearinghouse activities, and general service provision. An appendix lists members of the National Advisory Board. (JB)

In the new context of economic recovery, employment creation, new technologies, and labor shortages in some sectors, France cannot sustain a systematic policy of rejecting aging workers. This policy has led gradually to the recognition that early retirement was merely an easy way out of the problem that has many substantially adverse effects on the economic, political, and social spheres. A new consensus on age management has three aspects: older workers in the workplace, older workers' layoffs, and reemployment of the older unemployed. In the workplace, stereotypes should be eliminated; enterprises should invest in massive, diversified, and integrated training programs; and forward-looking personnel management should be used. Adjustment initiatives for retirees could be made more attractive, and fewer, more selective, and more rigorously negotiated early retirement agreements are required. The implementation of an appropriate policy for reemployment of older workers implies action in five directions: (1) change in employment practices and behaviors; (2) emphasis on job placement; (3) expansion of sources of employment; (4) targeted, motivating training in an individualized program; and (5) local management based on partnership. A proactive policy must guide the public authorities, enterprises, unions, and workers. (A glossary of French terms is appended.) (YLB)

A study examined effects of early retirement plans (ERP) at Canadian Universities. In response to current conditions within Canadian universities and a Canadian Supreme Court decision upholding mandatory retirement requirements, many universities have sought to encourage faculty retirement through ERPs. In order to study the cost of such programs, a survey was distributed to 58 Canadian universities. Twenty-seven institutions responded and of those 14 (24 percent) had ERP in place and operating long enough to participate in the study. Although this number was low, the institutions were representative. Results indicated that only one institution found the plan to be of greater financial cost than anticipated. Only two institutions found their ERP less of a financial burden than initially anticipated due to few faculty opting for the more expensive options and performance of investment being greater than anticipated. Few institutions were able or willing to specifically state the added expense of their ERP but those that did listed the following as added expenses: (1) payroll taxes; (2) use of savings for increased operating expenses; and (3) potential cost in university pension plan. Overall, most respondents believed that the predicted costs and savings of early retirement plans were borne out in practice. Six references and an appendix containing four sample survey questions are included. (JB)

Because an option for early retirement in Canadian Universities has created a need to know more about the vacancies early retirement creates and the potential to fill these vacancies, a survey of 15 representative universities was conducted. The sample included institutions of faculty numbering less than 100 to institutions of faculty numbering more than 1,200. The data revealed that the early retirees are primarily males motivated to retire early for a variety of reasons: availability of plans, diminished job satisfaction, health, climatic condition of the city, burn-out, desire to move to a retirement home, incompatibility, family, advantages of the plan, personal and institution's dissatisfaction, financial considerations, personal reasons, uncomfortable work station, expectation of university regarding scholarly activities, pursuit of other interests while drawing a pension and other career opportunities. Their value to the university was dispersed throughout the faculty members' teaching research and service duties. Projected areas of critical shortage due to early retirement are accounting, economics, engineering, computer science, commerce, administration, and psychology. Institutions offered a variety of predictions as to their ability to fill vacancies that would be created from 1990 to 1995. (JB)

The General Accounting Office examined retirement age trends in the private sector to assist the Congress in its effort to devise a retirement system for Federal employees. The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS) was identified as a source of information about private sector retirement patterns. March 1974, 1979, and 1984 data were used to identify persons receiving private pension income and their demographic characteristics. Analysis focused on male and female pension recipients aged 50 and older. About half of the individuals who receive private pensions started receiving them by age 62; almost 60 percent started receiving them before reaching 65. Median retirement age was 62. The proportion of people receiving private pension income at ages under 65 increased rapidly between 1973 and 1983. The proportion of all men aged 50 to 64 who received pension income essentially doubled. Women experienced a substantial but smaller increase in pension receipt. About one-third of male private pension recipients aged 50 to 61 were receiving Social Security disability payments, Supplemental Security Income, or Workers' Compensation. (Appendixes include a report with the data and methodology used to derive the results. CPS questionnaires regarding type of benefits received are also provided.) (YLB)

A study assessed the level of workers' knowledge of their pension plan's provisions related to early and normal retirement. The data used were from the 1983 Survey of Consumer Finances. The survey, which was based on a nationwide sample of more than 3,800 households and more than 1,000 public and private pension plans that covered them, asked the respondents if they would be eligible for early retirement and when they would first be eligible for full retirement benefits (normal retirement) or reduced retirement benefits (early retirement). The following inferences were drawn on the basis of the data collected in the 1983 survey: (1) over 40 percent of the 22 million workers in pension plans offering early retirement were either incorrect or did not know about their eligibility for early retirement benefits; (2) about 75 percent of the 12 million workers who were correct about being eligible for early retirement benefits were either incorrect or did not know about their eligibility data; (3) workers who would be eligible for early retirement were from 3 to 17 times more likely to know about their eligibility than those who would not be eligible; (4) having had education beyond high school and being more than 5 years from eligibility for early retirement were two factors associated with a higher likelihood of being correct about one's own retirement benefits; and (5) women were from 2.5 to 5 times as likely as men to say that they did not know about their early retirement eligibility. (An appendix details the log-linear analysis used in this study.) (MN)

A study reviewed Fortune 100 companies' use of waivers that release employers from certain legal claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 in special short-term exit incentive programs offered to employees. These programs were designed to encourage employees' early departure through some form of financial incentive. Telephone interviews were conducted with company officials at a random sample of 71 of the 1987 Fortune 100 industrial companies. Findings indicated that about 80 percent of Fortune 100 companies sponsored an exit incentive program at least once during 1979 through 1988, according to company officials. About 30 percent of these companies required their employees to sign a waiver as a condition for receiving enhanced benefits. Overall, waiver usage increased during the years 1985-1988 and was highest in 1987 and 1988, when 35 percent of companies with exit incentives used them. Officials from companies that required waivers said such a practice protected the company from lawsuits. Companies not using waivers contended that they were unnecessary because of the voluntary nature of exit incentive programs and the adverse effect that waivers would have on employee relations. (Appendixes include interview and data verification procedures and companies' reasons for waiver choices.) (YLB)

A study investigated the effects on the labor market of various proposed retirement options for teachers in South Carolina. First, questionnaires were sent to personnel officers in the 91 South Carolina school districts eliciting, first, facts and estimates relating to the supply of and demand for teachers and, second, their opinions on the ways in which the various retirement options would affect the teacher labor market in the state. Next, questionnaires were sent to 5,402 teachers to gather information on the labor supply. Twenty-two tables show data from the questionnaires. The first questionnaire (of personnel officers), with a 51% return rate, provided information on the following: (1) vacancies, applicants, offers, and hires; (2) teacher shortage areas; and (3) expected labor supply effects of seven new retirement options. The teachers' questionnaire, with 75% return rate, yielded information on teachers' retirement plans. Included are tables showing the number and percentage of South Carolina public school teachers who plan to leave public school teaching prior to retirement, along with percentage data on their planned activities, number of years prior to retirement, and responses to various new retirement system options. Seven major conclusions were drawn from the study, suggesting that early retirement options will have a very modest effect on the labor supply, but that improved fringe benefits might make the South Carolina public school system more attractive to potential employees. (TE)

A case study of 1100 high school teachers in a large urban district that has experienced declining enrollment for eight years illustrates several of the exit options and career mobility effects of riffing (reduction in force). The findings show that during decline, freely chosen movement out (exit), or laterally (moderate number of location changes), or to enhanced positions was reduced for all, riffed or not. But women and minorities were more likely to experience forced exit (riffing) and more apparently nonvoluntary lateral moves. Further, women were more likely to end up with unwieldy teaching loads, including more preparations in more diverse contents areas. When given the exit options of resignation and retirement, more senior women took them than men, but the content areas which showed the greatest percentage of voluntary exit use were typically male dominated areas (industrial arts and math), where the risks of exit were reduced due to external demands. To young teachers, especially young female and minority teachers, riffing signaled their second class citizenship. To potential teachers, it signaled that high schools are not places of professional growth. And to the school district itself, riffing signaled, or should have signaled, the district's declining long term health. (CMG)

The first section of this policy paper provides an overview of the historical development of early retirement incentive programs (ERIPs), the legal status of ERIPs under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), cost/benefit analyses involving ERIPs, and consideration of ERIPs in Indiana. The second section contains a brief synopsis of state laws that pertain to teacher retirement systems and early retirement incentive programs. (Twenty-eight references are listed.) (SI)

A survey of current early retirement programs and faculty age distributions was conducted among 23 colleges in the Consortium on Financing Higher Education and 13 universities in the Association of American Universities. Tabular data and narrative descriptions are presented in two major sections. The first section presents data on the number of people eligible for basic retirement benefits, those currently receiving them, and methods of predicting the number of future recipients. Information is also provided on normal and average retirement ages at participating schools; the type of retirement environment enjoyed by retirees; and the degree to which the costs, both direct and embedded, of current faculty retirement benefits are understood. The second section presents a summary of current early retirement plans at participating schools. The topics discussed include: options of the various policies; the number of people retiring under the plans; perquisites given to early retirees; evaluations of the plans in fulfilling institutional goals; and assessments of the financial costs of the plans. A list of contact people and an annotated bibliography (67 references) are also provided. (KM)

Ways that business and colleges can work together to promote continuing higher education and collaboration models are described in articles based on a forum sponsored by the National University Continuing Education Association's Continuing Higher Education Leadership Project. The perspectives of industry and higher education are covered, along with the topics of lifelong learning and early retirement. Article titles and authors are as follows: "High Tech Industries: Staying on the Technological Forefront through Reducation: Implications for Academica" (Terry L. Gildea, Hewlett Packard); "The Corporation and the Campus: Developing New Partnerships" (Robert DeSio); "Quality and Accountability: The Foundations of Collaboration" (Jack Bowsher); "New Roles for Continuing Higher Education" (Mary Walshok); "Toward a New Approach to Collaboration" (Philip Nowlen); "Demographic Challenges for Collaboration" (Allan Ostar); "Effective Education, Technology, and Teaching" (Theodore Bickart); "Knowledge Maintenance for the Professional" (Michael Danchak); "The Limits of Technology" (Leon Botstein); "Early Retirement: Implications for Higher Education" (Dale Hiestand); "The Economic Costs of Early Retirement" (George Anderson); "Retirees as Students" (Letitia Chamberlain); and "Second Careers" (Art Pumo). The following programs are described: Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program, Colorado State University/Hewlett Packard Software Retraining Program, National Technological University, University of California-San Diego Executive Program for Scientists and Engineers, and University of Illinois-Motorola Masters Program. (SW)

Two issues were analyzed--the changing characteristics of early pension recipients and the costs of early retirement. The analyses covered men and women aged 50 and older and were based primarily on data from the Census Bureau's March 1984 Current Population Survey. Findings showed that the percentage of the population receiving employer-sponsored pensions at ages younger than 65 had increased rapidly. Individuals with employer-sponsored pension income had much lower labor-force participation rates than nonrecipients of the same age and sex. While the majority of early pension recipients who did not work appeared to be voluntarily retired, a significant minority below age 62 had retired due to disability or poor health. Early retirement represented a potentially significant loss in federal tax revenues. Some recent legislative changes reduced incentives for early retirement and removed obstacles to older worker employment. Additional proposed changes would further remove some financial incentives to retire early in public and private plans. The importance of the adoption of further public policies to encourage later retirement was seen as depending not only on future economic growth but also on unforeseeable economic or demographic circumstances that might alter the current view of what policies will be needed in the next century. (Appendixes include additional data and information on methodology.) (YLB)

Experiences with faculty early retirement programs at three public universities are described. The universities range in size from 11,000 to 33,000 full-time equivalent students with 650 to more than 3,000 faculty members. Attention is directed to: goals of each of the institutions in establishing the program, characteristics of individual programs, the number of faculty who have taken the early retirement option, and perceived strengths and weaknesses of the program. Initiatives for the three retirement incentive plans differed: one came from a joint faculty and administrative committee, the second was created and developed by administrators, and the third was developed by faculty members. Goals of the program for two of the universities were to reallocate resources. One school encouraged early retirements in overstaffed departments so that faculty positions could be moved to understaffed departments. The other school sought to reallocate institutional resources by guaranteeing part-time reemployment to any faculty member electing early retirement. The goal of the third university was to provide for a renewal of the professoriate while reducing the total number of faculty at the institution. The questionnaire used to collect the information on the programs is appended. (SW)

A national survey of the needs, resources, and future expectations of veterans aged 55 and over produced findings that the Veterans Administration (VA) will use over the next decade to plan facilities and programs to meet those needs. Findings indicated veterans had a higher educational level and were less likely to be at the lower end of the occupational scale than non-veterans of the same age. Retired veterans were substantially better off. Three-fourths had savings accounts, 42 percent had other investments, and nearly 9 out of 10 owned their own home. Although the majority described their health as excellent or good compared to others their own age, nearly half reported that their health limited their activities. Certain types of chronic diseases, including arthritis and hypertension, were widespread. While four of five veterans had group or private health insurance, Medicare formed the cornerstone of the aging veterans' health coverage. The survey identified, however, the existence of a medically indigent group of veterans. Most veterans did not believe they would be able to absorb the cost of future long-term care needs. An important finding was that current utilization rates of VA hospitals by aging veterans may drastically underrepresent the true demand. (Numerous data tables are provided. The questionnaire is appended.) (YLB)