Over the last twenty years, the retirement agenda has changed in many advanced industrial societies. State pension ages have been raised, alarmism about future trends in life expectancy has become commonplace, the employment rates of older people have risen and old age itself is undergoing a redefinition. There are fascinating differences between different countries, and some (such as Spain) are very generous to their retired citizens in relation to their national wealth. In this comprehensive and thoroughly-researched study David Lain compares two countries, the United Kingdom (specifically, England) and the United States of America, examining how retirement has been reconstructed in each and straying onto the wider debate on work and welfare.

The one striking feature of the history of state pensions in the UK and the USA is that attitudes to working later in life have undergone a complete revolution. As recently as the 1980s and the early 1990s, the prevailing view was that early retirement had to be encouraged; now the emphasis is quite the opposite. Lain's comparison of each country's different approaches is usefully and skilfully done, although the usual questions that invariably arise from comparative analysis inevitably present themselves: most strikingly, what exactly explains the variation in older men's employment rates between the two countries, such that now twice the proportion of Americans aged 65+ engage in paid work compared with British? Again, the historian in this reviewer would like to have seen more work on the past, just to flesh out the account given here. The fact is that provision for old age has always been relatively poor in the UK. This is more than dull historical controversy: it may contain answers that would help us understand the present situation, and perhaps more detailed comparison between labour markets in the two countries would have helped. Of course, this raises the inevitable question always associated with comparative analysis: how meaningful are nation-state boundaries, compared with other factors (such as local labour markets)?

It cannot be assumed that ‘unretirement’ – the decision to re-enter employment from a position of retirement – will be unproblematic for those concerned. The big difficulty for governments seeking to exhort later-life working is that persuasion has little effect on those without jobs; and those who continue working tend to be self-employed and/or highly educated. In short, the great paradox is that those who most need a good income in later life are least likely to have it, and vice-versa. On the face of it, this is oddly counter-intuitive in that those who need to work least at later ages are most likely to be doing so and it rather knocks a hole in the theory that retirement occurs exactly at that point when people can afford to retire. The evidence from England is that remaining in work a little longer (the basis for the slightly-rising employment rates) has been the territory of those with most education, best health, highest social class, most rewarding jobs, etc. – all of which place them in a privileged position regarding their employer. Someone with a higher education and aged 65–74 is twice as likely to work as someone with below-secondary qualifications. ‘Persuading’ those with the least skills, the lowest incomes and savings and the worst health to stay on in work is going to be so difficult that it may end up actually being cruel. Lain soberly records the decline in income support for this age group – a most necessary task, given the current efforts by many (who should know better) to portray pensioners as an economically privileged group. It is also a sobering fact that present UK governments have supported every proposal to raise state pension ages with little evidence of where the necessary jobs will come from. Interestingly, the USA has been much less enthusiastic about this particular reform.

This is a very good book on an important and topical subject, which should form the basis of any critical assessment of the rights and wrongs of early retirement. Lain himself stands firmly against the policy onslaught towards the early retired that has taken place with particular ferocity in the UK, and argues that much of it is unnecessary. Those of us who share this view will find much to agree with this in this well written and interesting book.