Internal Labor Markets, Plant Closings, and Retirement. Some Matters of Context. The Financial Structure of the Retirement Plans. Predicting Early Retirement. Discussing Options in an Endgame. Solidarity and `Generational Equity.' Satisfaction with Early Retirement. Inducing Early Retirement: Some Conclusions in Perspective. Index.

During the 1980s the news media were filled with reports of soaring unemployment as 'downsizing' and `restructuring' became the new buzzwords. Firms managed their workforce reduction by increasing the attractiveness of their pension plans-especially their early-retirement plans. In this volume, the authors examine the U.S. auto industry and present a full-scale analysis of the work and retirement decisions of its workers. They address organizational context and the logic of financial incentives in employer-provided early retirement plans. The impact of pension provisions, layoffs, plant closures, attitudes about `generational equity', and other factors influencing the workers' evaluation of the optimum time to end their careers in the auto industry are explored.