Cumulative disadvantages of non-employment and non-standard work for career patterns and subjective well-being in retirement

Abstract

This paper investigates how cumulative disadvantages of non-employment and non-standard work are affecting careers and subjective well-being of older Europeans from 13 countries. In previous research, unemployment, labour market inactivity and part-time work had negative effects, however they were seldom addressed in a common study and over the whole career. In two complementary analyses, first, the employment history of older Europeans is analysed with sequence analysis methods to show how non-employment and part-time work shape careers and to illustrate gender differences. In a second step, adverse career components are used to exemplify cumulative disadvantages on subjective well-being in old age. Data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is used for the analyses. After optimal matching and clustering of the retrospective employment history, the results indicate that women experience more turbulent careers with more periods of nonemployment and part-time employment. The analyses of subjective well-being show that labour market inactivity and unemployment have negative effects in old age for men, but less for women. Part-time employment has a differentiated effect for women, however not for men.

Men’s health across the life course: A gender relational (critical) overview

“…Moreover, research highlights the fact that post-retirement, well-being is greatly affected by the advantages and disadvantages accumulated during the course of a person's life, with both labour market exit routes and post-retirement well-being understood as possible outcomes (Hallored et al, 2013). This means that the cumulative disadvantages of non-employment and non-standard work affect the careers and the subjective well-being of the elderly, with major negative effects emerging for men in old age (Ponomarenko, 2016). However, the heterogeneity of transitions to retirement must be taken into account, not only in terms of the timing of retirement, but also regarding the individual's capacity to endorse different roles.…”

Education matters: cumulative advantages and disadvantages amongst Portuguese older men

“…The susceptibility of older people to inequality has been gaining attention (e.g. Dannefer & Huang, 2017;Grundy & Sloggett, 2003;Heap & Fors, 2015;Heap, Fors, & Lennartsson, 2017;Milbourne & Doheny, 2012;Ponomarenko, 2016;Wildman, Moffatt, & Pearce, 2018). The existing evidence suggests that old age is a period of life of significant socioeconomic inequalities.…”

“…The theory of cumulative advantages/disadvantages has been used to explain inequalities in old age (e.g. Crystal et al, 2017;Heap & Fors, 2015;Ponomarenko, 2016;Read, Grundy, & Foverskov, 2016) and suggests that these are a result of exposure to social and personal advantages/disadvantages in different domains throughout the life course, resulting from a long-term social process. Crystal, Shea, and Reyes (2017) state that increases in inequality observed among members of each cohort as it has aged, and persistently high inequality in late life, speak to the continuing pattern by which early advantages and disadvantages have effects that persist, and indeed are magnified, over the life course (ibid., p. 917).…”

“…We should also note that throughout the life course disadvantages can be reinforced through timing, that is, through disadvantage at a crucial moment in life (e.g. health problems that lead to early retirement) or through long term exposition to social disadvantage, that is, duration (Ponomarenko, 2016).…”

“…Given the central role played by educational attainment in setting individuals life course and, consequently, in the process of cumulative advantages/disadvantages, the main aim of the current research was to provide a better understanding of the life course of Portuguese older men (+60) with different educational backgrounds, focusing in a number of life dimensions like, for instance, professional trajectories, social network or involvement in learning and leisure activities. Since timing, that is the occurrence of disadvantage in crucial moments of life, can reinforce life course disadvantages (Ponomarenko, 2016), as mentioned earlier, we were especially attentive to transitions triggered by events such as divorces, deaths of companions, health accidents. Our intention was to understand how the participants coped with these transitions and the impact they had, from the individual's point of view, in their present situation.…”