Italian workers in retirement: Reasons for post-retirement activities are influenced from own former job

Aging population is a social phenomenon in Europe characterized by a decrease in fertility and mortality rates, and a higher life expectancy among native Europeans. In Italy, in particular, a growing number of older people are encouraged to delay their retirement due to a range of economic, social and policy changes, and various other reasons to engage in post-retirement work. For this research we considered the following factors: insufficient financial resources, additional income, interesting work, the desire to remain active, valued contribution to society, flexibility, social contact and personal development. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between the intention to remain in work, and work satisfaction in the past career of older workers. We used quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (interview, focus group) methods, to collect and analyze data. Different statistic elaborations were applied to discover the relationships among different variables (i.e. descriptive, inferential, P.value test and Regression Analysis). The findings show how older people in retirement want to be appreciated. Their motivation and satisfaction depends on their past carrier and these variables push them to stay at work for a longer time.