Open-access content
Friday 27th November 2015
—
updated 5.50pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020
I was sorry to see Anne Sander and Alan Finch in their article in The Actuary (November 2015, bit.ly/1MopoIS) perpetuating the notion that retirement is a recent phenomenon.
I was sorry to see Anne Sander and Alan Finch in their article in The Actuary (November 2015, bit.ly/1MopoIS) perpetuating the notion that retirement is "a recent phenomenon" and that a "retirement age" only came "with the introduction of state pension benefits for older people in 1908".
It is true that even in the middle of the 19th century, many elderly men and women continued with some paid employment into their 70s and later, but significant numbers of people were already describing themselves as 'retired' in the 1851 census returns. By the last quarter of the century, increasing bureaucratisation and standardisation of job content and pay, increasing awareness of safety risks, particularly from failing eyesight, and changing attitudes, all meant that a growing share of elderly people were no longer able to, or wished to, find any other than very occasional employment.
The 1891 Census of England and Wales showed that 35% of men of 65 and over had no employment, with a fifth of this age group explicitly stating that they were 'retired'.
The 1901 Census showed 31% of men aged 65-74 and 61% of men aged 75 and over as having no regular employment - and it also showed 21% and 38% respectively as explicitly returning themselves as 'retired' or as a 'pensioner'.
Within this context, what the 1908 pensions legislation did was to extend, on a means-tested basis, financial support to a wider group of those who could no longer work, or did not wish to. But, by then, retirement was already a widely practised experience, and at a wide range of ages.
Professor Michael Anderson
6 November 2015
It is true that even in the middle of the 19th century, many elderly men and women continued with some paid employment into their 70s and later, but significant numbers of people were already describing themselves as 'retired' in the 1851 census returns. By the last quarter of the century, increasing bureaucratisation and standardisation of job content and pay, increasing awareness of safety risks, particularly from failing eyesight, and changing attitudes, all meant that a growing share of elderly people were no longer able to, or wished to, find any other than very occasional employment.
The 1891 Census of England and Wales showed that 35% of men of 65 and over had no employment, with a fifth of this age group explicitly stating that they were 'retired'.
The 1901 Census showed 31% of men aged 65-74 and 61% of men aged 75 and over as having no regular employment - and it also showed 21% and 38% respectively as explicitly returning themselves as 'retired' or as a 'pensioner'.
Within this context, what the 1908 pensions legislation did was to extend, on a means-tested basis, financial support to a wider group of those who could no longer work, or did not wish to. But, by then, retirement was already a widely practised experience, and at a wide range of ages.
Professor Michael Anderson
6 November 2015
