The Employability Process of Spanish Retired Elite Athletes: Gender and Sport Success Comparison

Abstract

The aims of the study were: (i) to describe the work integration after retirement in elite athletes, (ii) to compare the working integration of women and men, and Olympic and non-Olympic athletes, and (iii) to specify the factors that affect their employment status and current monthly income. A total of 476 former elite athletes were surveyed. Non-parametric statistics were applied to compare the differences between groups and a classification tree analysis was performed for the dependent variables. The former elite athlete’s unemployment rate was better than the general population. At the gender comparison, a wage gap appeared between women and men. At the comparison between Olympic and non-Olympic athletes, the link to first employment differed in both groups. In the prediction models, finishing higher education arose as a key factor of the working status and the monthly salary. Among those without higher education studies, planning arose as a factor determining their salary, while among those with high qualifications, gender was the key factor. This study supports the importance of a holistic view of athletic career development and it offers practical insights into the process of reaching first employment after retirement.

Vocational careers of retired Olympic athletes from Switzerland: A person-oriented study

“…occupying a lower professional position than expected based on their educational level), was observed in only 5.8% of athletes (Conzelmann and Nagel, 2003). Similar findings were reported by López de Subijana et al (2020) who found a lower unemployment rate among former elite athletes in Spain (see also Barriopedro et al, 2018). However, there was no difference in the average monthly income between former athletes and the general population.…”

“…In order to take the socio-economic status of an athlete's family of origin into account (cf. López de Subijana et al, 2020), school-leaving certificates and occupational prestige of the siblings, where present, were assessed. In addition, the parental socio-economic status was assessed by transforming coded job titles (i.e.…”

“…Some studies have shown that successful athletes perform better in their vocational career than less successful athletes (e.g. Cecić Erpič et al, 2004; Kneyer, 1980; López de Subijana et al, 2020), while other studies found no differences (Hackfort et al, 1997; Nagel and Conzelmann, 2006). Thus, a successful vocational career does not seem to be very closely linked to athletic success.…”

“…Several studies emphasize the importance of educational attainment for athletes (e.g. Cecic ́Erpičet al, 2004;López de Subijana et al, 2020) and the use of personal strategies (e.g. saving money, entering a new job before ending the sports career, taking advantage of the sporting capital) to facilitate transitioning to a vocational career (e.g.…”

Performance of high-level Spanish athletes in the Olympic Games according to gender

“…In this respect, it has been found that sports federations and other sports organizations should promote gender policies and create ad hoc programs to promote equality in all areas of sports [29,50]. In agreement with this, previous research studies have pointed out the importance of the social context and the need for stakeholder support to enable the holistic development of the female athlete [41,45], which allows not only their growth in sports, but also their educational progress with their inclusion in dual career programs [51,52], and the resulting employment success during and after their active careers [53,54]. These factors are essential for achieving the complete disappearance of the gender gap in sports [41,53].…”