Essays in Labor Economics

This dissertation studies labor decisions for workers approaching retirement. The first chapter measures the increase of married couples which are jointly leaving the labor force at the same time, a phenomenon referred to as joint retirement. I find that there has been a sizable increase in joint retirement rates over from the 1975 up until 2014. Using a life cycle model of labor supply, I find that a sizable portion of the his increase can be explained by certain demographic and economic changes. The second chapter measures the extent to which workers approaching retirement are overemployed. I find that the level of overemployment - that is, the difference in actual hours worked versus preferred hours - rises as workers approach retirement. This overemployment has sizable implications on workers retirement and labor search decisions as well as their wages in the future. I use a life cycle model of labor supply to estimate the value of having complete hours flexibility in a worker's occupation. I find that workers are willing to sacrifice a sizable portion of lifetime consumption to attain hours flexibility.