Divestment or Investment? The Contradictions of Human Resource Management in Relation to Older Employees

Citation

Lyon P, Hallier J & Glover I (1998) Divestment or Investment? The Contradictions of Human Resource Management in Relation to Older Employees. Human Resource Management Journal, 8 (1), pp. 56-66. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-8583.1998.tb00159.x

Abstract
First paragraph: In the context of organisational and technical change, early retirements have been widely used since the mid-1970s to reduce labour costs and to facilitate the replacement of established workers. Viewed as 'quasi-redundancy', early retirement has been a favoured employer practice as it ensures labour force reductions with minimal threat to industrial peace (Casey, 1992). Indeed the full impact of early retirement as a quiet revolution can be seen in changing rates of economic activity. In 1975, 94 per cent of British males aged 55-59 and 84 per cent aged 60-64 were economically active. The corresponding figures for 1994 were 72 per cent and 49 per cent (HMSO, 1994; 1996). By the same token, the proportion of economic activity accounted for by registered unemployment has increased over this period. While 51 per cent of 60-64 year old males were considered economically active in 1993, 7 per cent of them were registered unemployed (Social Trends, 1994). In effect, in the five years before UK state pension eligibility, only four in 10 males were actually working.

Journal
Human Resource Management Journal: Volume 8, Issue 1