IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/indres/v64y2025i4p643-659.html

The Influence of Occupational Licensing on Workforce Transitions to Retirement

Author

Listed:
  • Yun taek Oh
  • Morris M. Kleiner

Abstract

Ways of leaving the labor force have been an understudied aspect of labor market outcomes. Labor market institutions such as occupational licensing may influence how individuals transition to retirement. When and how workers transition from career jobs to full retirement may contribute to pre‐ and post‐retirement well‐being. Previous investigations of retirement pathways focused on the patterns and outcomes of retirement transitions, yet the influence of occupational licensing on retirement transition has not been analyzed. In this study, we use the Current Population Survey to investigate how occupational licensing influences American later‐career workers' choice of retirement pathways. Our results show that older licensed workers are less likely to choose to make career transitions but more likely to reduce work hours in transitioning out of the labor force. These results are consistent with the findings that licensed workers receive more benefits in the form of preferable retirement options, suggesting that these workers tend to have higher wages, benefits, and flexibility even toward the end of their careers.

Suggested Citation

  • Yun taek Oh & Morris M. Kleiner, 2025. "The Influence of Occupational Licensing on Workforce Transitions to Retirement," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 643-659, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:indres:v:64:y:2025:i:4:p:643-659
    DOI: 10.1111/irel.12388
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/irel.12388
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/irel.12388?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:hal:journl:hal-04613897 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Berkman, Lisa F. & Truesdale, Beth C., 2023. "Working longer and population aging in the U.S.: Why delayed retirement isn’t a practical solution for many," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    3. Elizabeth J. Casabianca & Alessia Lo Turco & Claudia Pigini, 2020. "Equal Pay for Equal Task: Assessing Heterogeneous Returns to Tasks across Genders," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 197-239, April.
    4. Hutchens, Robert, 2010. "Worker characteristics, job characteristics, and opportunities for phased retirement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 1010-1021, December.
    5. David Card & Carlos Dobkin & Nicole Maestas, 2008. "The Impact of Nearly Universal Insurance Coverage on Health Care Utilization: Evidence from Medicare," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 2242-2258, December.
    6. Morris M. Kleiner, 2006. "Licensing Occupations: Ensuring Quality or Restricting Competition?," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number lo.
    7. Moshe Buchinsky & Denis Fougère & Francis Kramarz & Rusty Tchernis, 2010. "Interfirm Mobility, Wages and the Returns to Seniority and Experience in the United States," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(3), pages 972-1001.
    8. Gustman, Alan L & Steinmeier, Thomas L, 1991. "The Effects of Pensions and Retirement Policies on Retirement in Higher Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 111-115, May.
    9. Nicola Gagliardi & Elena Grinza & François Rycx, 2023. "Workers’ tenure and firm productivity: New evidence from matched employer‐employee panel data," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 3-33, January.
    10. Mark Hayward & William Grady & Melissa Hardy & David Sommers, 1989. "Occupational influences on retirement, disability, and death," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 26(3), pages 393-409, August.
    11. Maury Gittleman & Morris M. Kleiner, 2016. "Wage Effects of Unionization and Occupational Licensing Coverage in the United States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 69(1), pages 142-172, January.
    12. Ruhm, Christopher J, 1990. "Bridge Jobs and Partial Retirement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(4), pages 482-501, October.
    13. Topel, Robert H, 1991. "Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(1), pages 145-176, February.
    14. Giovanni Peri & Chad Sparber, 2011. "Highly Educated Immigrants and Native Occupational Choice," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 385-411, July.
    15. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    16. Iacus, Stefano M. & King, Gary & Porro, Giuseppe, 2012. "Causal Inference without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, January.
    17. Edward P. Lazear & Kathryn L. Shaw, 2007. "Personnel Economics: The Economist's View of Human Resources," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(4), pages 91-114, Fall.
    18. Tor Eriksson & Nicolai Kristensen, 2014. "Wages or Fringes? Some Evidence on Trade-Offs and Sorting," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(4), pages 899-928.
    19. Morris M Kleiner & Evan J Soltas, 2023. "A Welfare Analysis of Occupational Licensing in U.S. States," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(5), pages 2481-2516.
    20. Emily Oster, 2019. "Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 187-204, April.
    21. Chris Robinson, 2018. "Occupational Mobility, Occupation Distance, and Specific Human Capital," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(2), pages 513-551.
    22. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    23. Suyoun Han & Morris M. Kleiner, 2021. "Analyzing the Influence of Occupational Licensing Duration and Grandfathering on Wage Determination," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 147-187, April.
    24. Lancaster, Tony, 2000. "The incidental parameter problem since 1948," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 391-413, April.
    25. Yun taek Oh, 2024. "Bridge Employment or Encore Career? Examining Predictors That Distinguish Later-Life Career Transitions," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 79(8), pages 1093-1108.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Morris M. Kleiner & Wenchen Wang, 2026. "The Labor Market Effects of Occupational Licensing in the Public Sector," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 200-229, April.
    2. Morris M. Kleiner & Wenchen Wang, 2023. "The Labor Market Effects of Occupational Licensing in the Public Sector," Staff Report 645, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    3. Ilya Kukaev & Edward J. Timmons, 2026. "Is occupational licensing a barrier to self-employment?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 69(1), pages 1-32, December.
    4. Massimiliano Tani, 2021. "Occupational Licensing and the Skills Mismatch of Highly Educated Migrants," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 730-756, September.
    5. Stefan Bauernschuster & Michael Grimm & Cathy M. Hajo, 2023. "The Impact of Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control Clinics on Early 20th Century U.S. Fertility and Mortality," CESifo Working Paper Series 10421, CESifo.
    6. Andres Marroquin & Edward J. Timmons, 2024. "Economic values, support of labor unions, and salience of occupational licensing in the European Union," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 44(4), pages 1338-1347.
    7. Theodoropoulos, Nikos & Singleton, Carl, 2026. "Returns to Tenure: A Critical Assessment of the Evidence and Interpretation," IZA Discussion Papers 18705, IZA Network @ LISER.
    8. Jaeger, David, 2026. "Robustness? Range Tests for Equality and Equivalence Across Specifications," CEPR Discussion Papers 21802, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    9. Ashley C. Bradford & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2024. "Evictions and psychiatric treatment," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 87-125, January.
    10. John M. Barrios, 2022. "Occupational Licensing and Accountant Quality: Evidence from the 150‐Hour Rule," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 60(1), pages 3-43, March.
    11. Jorge Guzman, 2024. "Go West Young Firm: The Impact of Startup Migration on the Performance of Migrants," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(7), pages 4824-4846, July.
    12. Böckerman, Petri & Haapanen, Mika & Jepsen, Christopher, 2019. "Back to school: Labor-market returns to higher vocational schooling," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    13. Liu, Lisa Yao & Tong, Lijing, 2026. "The spillover effect of public firm audit regulation on private firm auditing: Evidence from common partners," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(3).
    14. Hasibul Chowdhury & Ashrafee Tanvir Hossain & Syka Rahman & Jiayi Zheng, 2025. "Labour Investment Efficiency and Social Capital," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 65(3), pages 2894-2917, September.
    15. Guo, Xue & Cheng, Aaron & Pavlou, Paul A., 2025. "Skill-biased technical change, again? Online gig platforms and local employment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 124538, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Mengjie Lyu & Tingting Zhang & Hua Ye, 2023. "Labour market impacts of occupational licensing and delicensing: New evidence from China," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(4), pages 895-921, December.
    17. Matthias Breuer & Ed Dehaan, 2024. "Using and Interpreting Fixed Effects Models," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 62(4), pages 1183-1226, September.
    18. Joseph Keneck‐Massil & Iliassou Nkariepoun‐Njoya & Bernard Clery Nomo‐Beyala, 2024. "Does women's political empowerment matter in military spending?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(2), pages 316-350, May.
    19. Chen Liang & Yili Hong & Bin Gu, 2025. "Monitoring and the Cold Start Problem in Digital Platforms: Theory and Evidence from Online Labor Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 36(1), pages 600-620, March.
    20. Adithya Pattabhiramaiah & Eric Overby & Lizhen Xu, 2022. "Spillovers from Online Engagement: How a Newspaper Subscriber’s Activation of Digital Paywall Access Affects Her Retention and Subscription Revenue," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3528-3548, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:indres:v:64:y:2025:i:4:p:643-659. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0019-8676 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.