Race Inequities in Men's Retirement

Hayward, Mark D.; Friedman, Samantha; Chen, Hsinmu

doi:10.1093/geronb/51b.1.s1

Cited by 50 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…We use panel data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a longitudinal survey of Americans age 51 and over conducted biennially since 1992 (HRS, 2008). African Americans, Hispanics and households in the state of Florida were over-sampled and re-weighted in the analyses as discussed in more detail below.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unexpected retirement from full time work after age 62: consequences for life satisfaction in older Americans

2012

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Recent policy shifts in the United States have resulted in an increase in the number of older workers remaining in the labor force. Increases in the retirement age for receiving full Social Security benefits coupled with declining pension funds and the erosion of employer retiree health benefits, mean that current cohorts of older workers may fully expect to work longer than previous generations. Yet, working longer may not always be possible due to health problems, outdated skills, economic insecurity, and competing obligations. We examine the consequences of unmet expectations for full time work after age 62 for life satisfaction in a nationally representative sample of older Americans. With longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (1998–2008), this paper uses repeated measures of expectations for later life work among a cohort of Americans (N=1684) gathered prospectively over an eight year period, and examines the effects of unfulfilled expectations on subsequent life satisfaction. Using generalized growth mixture modeling three latent classes of individuals were identified with distinct trajectories of later life work expectations (low expectations, high expectations, and neutral expectations for full time work after age 62). A majority of men had generally high expectations to work full time past age 62, whereas the majority of women reported a low probability of working full time after age 62. When comparing expectations to actual full time work past age 62, we found no effects of unmet expectations for women. But men with less job stability (reflected by shorter job tenure and lower incomes) generally had high expectations to work longer, and their life satisfaction scores were significantly lower when these expectations were not realized. The hazards of missed expectations for later life work have consequences for subjective well-being in older adults.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unexpected retirement from full time work after age 62: consequences for life satisfaction in older Americans

2012

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“…Prior studies consistently document that Blacks and Hispanics face more tenuous labor force prospects across the life course and exit at earlier ages than whites (Flippen 2005) and are at greater risk of work-disability (Brown and Warner 2008; Hayward et al 1996). The expected growth in the racial/ethnic heterogeneity of the aged population necessitates understanding how such racial/ethnic differences in labor force transitions will combine to differentiate the retirement life course.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Retirement Life Course in America at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century

Warner

Hayward

Hardy

2010

Popul Res Policy Rev

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As the baby boom cohorts expand the number of U.S. retirees, population estimates of the employment, withdrawal and reentry behaviors of older Americans' remain scarce. How long do people work? How frequently is retirement reversed? How many years are people retired? What is the modal age of retirement? And, how do the patterns for women compare to those for men? Using the 1992-2004 Health and Retirement Study, we estimate multistate working life tables to update information on the age-graded regularities of the retirement life course of men and women in the United States. We find that at age 50 men can expect to spend half of their remaining lives working for pay, while women can expect to spend just one-third. Half of all men and women have left the labor force by ages 63 and 61, respectively. Although the majority of retirement exits are final, variation in the nature and duration of the retirement process is substantial, as about a third of men's and women's exits are reversed. By quantifying these patterns for men and women, we provide a sound empirical basis for evaluating policy designed to address the financial pressures population aging places on public and private pension systems. KeywordsRetirement; Disability; Labor force; Life course; Gender; Multistate life tables Through the mid-twentieth century retirement was relatively uncommon (Costa 1998), an event replete with uncertainties-higher risks of poverty, morbidity and vague expectations of disengagement. However, automatic adjustment of Social Security benefits and wageindexing of earnings histories, coupled with mandatory retirement ages and the growth of defined-benefit pension plans, solidified retirement as a clearly defined normative phase of the life course (Atchley 1982;Guillemard and Rein 1993;Henretta 1992;Wise 2004 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptAs the twentieth century closed, however, the institutional uniformity of retirement had weakened. The abolition of mandatory retirement ages, proliferation of employer definedbenefit pension plans and one-time early retirement incentives, and secular improvement in financial standing that made retirement more affordable, all combined to shift the risks of old age economic security back toward individuals (Han and Moen 1999;Henretta 1992;Shuey and O'Rand 2004). Indeed, uncertainty is again a ubiquitous feature of retirement (Blossfeld et al. 2006;Hardy 2006). With retirement loosened from institutional schedules, and firmly entrenched as a phase of the life course (Costa 1998;Hardy 2002), variability in late career employment patterns has increased. The result is increased heterogeneity in the timing, permanency, and duration of the retirement life course.Despite recognition that retirement is increasingly individualized (Guillemard and Rein 1993;Han and Moen 1999), as described by numerous studies analyzing individual-level retirement behavior, scholarly attention to documenting the ensuing demographic regularities of older American's work and r...

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“…One notable exception was the effect of being in the labor force—where Black men, Black women, Mexican American men, and Mexican American women in the labor force had significantly fewer functional limitations than White men or White women in the labor force (results not shown). This finding reflects the fact that racial/ethnic minority men and women are less apt to work in white-collar occupations that can accommodate mild forms of functional impairment and are more likely to become work-disabled (Brown & Warner, 2007; Hayward, Friedman, & Chen, 1996). Nevertheless, the general absence of systematic differences in effects across racial/ethnic/gender groups indicates that the approach of the current study—entering social class indicators into the model as covariates— is both theoretically and empirically justified: racial/ethnic/gendered opportunity structures shape access to resources that promote and exposure to risks that undermine health later-life health (O'Rand 2006).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Understanding how race/ethnicity and gender define age-trajectories of disability: An intersectionality approach

Warner

Brown

2011

Social Science & Medicine

304

275

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A number of studies have demonstrated wide disparities in health among racial/ethnic groups and by gender, yet few have examined how race/ethnicity and gender intersect or combine to affect the health of older adults. The tendency of prior research to treat race/ethnicity and gender separately has potentially obscured important differences in how health is produced and maintained, undermining efforts to eliminate health disparities. The current study extends previous research by taking an intersectionality approach (Mullings & Schulz, 2006), grounded in life course theory, conceptualizing and modeling trajectories of functional limitations as dynamic life course processes that are jointly and simultaneously defined by race/ethnicity and gender. Data from the nationally representative 1994–2006 US Health and Retirement Study and growth curve models are utilized to examine racial/ethnic/gender differences in intra-individual change in functional limitations among White, Black and Mexican American Men and Women, and the extent to which differences in life course capital account for group disparities in initial health status and rates of change with age. Results support an intersectionality approach, with all demographic groups exhibiting worse functional limitation trajectories than White Men. Whereas White Men had the lowest disability levels at baseline, White Women and racial/ethnic minority Men had intermediate disability levels and Black and Hispanic Women had the highest disability levels. These health disparities remained stable with age—except among Black Women who experience a trajectory of accelerated disablement. Dissimilar early life social origins, adult socioeconomic status, marital status, and health behaviors explain the racial/ethnic disparities in functional limitations among Men but only partially explain the disparities among Women. Net of controls for life course capital, Women of all racial/ethnic groups have higher levels of functional limitations relative to White Men and Men of the same race/ethnicity. Findings highlight the utility of an intersectionality approach to understanding health disparities.

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Race Inequities in Men's Retirement

Cited by 50 publications

References 7 publications

Unexpected retirement from full time work after age 62: consequences for life satisfaction in older Americans

Unexpected retirement from full time work after age 62: consequences for life satisfaction in older Americans

The Retirement Life Course in America at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century

Understanding how race/ethnicity and gender define age-trajectories of disability: An intersectionality approach

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