Determinants of Engagement in Paid Work Following Social Security Benefit Receipt Among Older Women

ABSTRACT

Work behavior among older men approaching or following retirement has received considerable research attention over the past two decades, but research on older women's work behavior is still in its incipient stage. Based on data from the 1982 New Beneficiary Survey (NBS) and the 1991 New Beneficiary Follow-up (NBF), this study analyzes the extent and determinants of employment among women who received their first Social Security benefits between 1980 and 1981. More than one fourth of the women continued to work or rejoined the labor force following their first Social Security benefit receipt. Financial need was found to be the primary reason for and the most significant determinant of women's continuing work or (re)entry into the labor force. But the level of education, health, spouse's work status, and previous work history were also found to be significant determinants of the likelihood and duration of their employment following Social Security receipt.     

Effects of receipt of Social Security retirement benefits on older women’s employment

Labor force participation of women has declined since 1999; however, labor force participation of women 62+ has increased. The 2000–2006 waves of Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data, the initial years of the continuing upward trajectory, were used to test the effects of receipt of Social Security retirement benefits on older women’s employment. The models tested: (a) the effect of receipt of Social Security retirement benefits on whether employed; and (b) for women receiving Social Security retirement benefits, the effect of age elected receipt of benefits on whether employed. Both models included the effects of human capital characteristics and income sources. Receipt of Social Security benefits, pension income, and current age reduced the likelihood of employment; while educational level, good to excellent health, and nonmarried marital status increased the likelihood of employment. The older the woman was when she elected Social Security benefits, the more likely she was to be employed.     

The determinants and patterns of married women's labor force participation in Korea

The present study investigates the determinants and patterns of married women's labor force participation in Korea. Married women's employment in Korea is largely determined by age, urban residence, household characteristics of the husband's socioeconomic status, family income, fertility, and the lagged effect of work. Older age, rural residence, inferior household economic condition, and recent work experience are the major positive causes of married women's participation in the market work. On the other hand, younger women with preschool children, who currently reside in urban areas, enjoying better household economic conditions (due to higher socioeconomic status of husbands and/or higher family income) are the groups of women with the smallest probability of working in the market. Married women's employment pattern in Korea shows a pattern typical of less-developed and low-income countries in two aspects: married women working and characterized by a low level of education; the difference between urban and rural areas in terms of work participation pattern is remarkable. Although Korea belongs to the advanced group of currently industrializing countries, she lags behind with other developing countries in terms of married women's employment. Moreover, it is difficult to predict in advance that Korea would have similar experiences as those of contemporary advanced countries.     

Older Widows' Early Bereavement Adjustments

Older Black women, categorically rank at the top with regards to the greatest incidence of poverty. This paper examines the construct of poverty and the salient factors that contribute to poverty among older Black women. An analysis of the various factors: income, Social Security, private pensions, widowhood, labor force participation and education, all of which contribute to the impoverishment of women in late life, are explored. Implications for policy as well as recommendations to reduce poverty among older Black women are provided.     

U.S. women at work

Women made up 43% of the U.S. labor force in 1980, up from 29% in 1950, and 52% of all women 16 and over were working or looking for work compared to 34% in 1950. The surge in women's employment is linked to more delayed marriage, divorce, and separation, women's increased education, lower fertility, rapid growth in clerical and service jobs, inflation, and changing attitudes toward "woman's place." Employment has risen fastest among married women, especially married mothers of children under 6, 45% of whom are now in the labor force. Some 44% of employed women now work fulltime the year round, but still average only $6 for every $10 earned by men working that amount. This is partly because most women remain segregated in low paying "women's jobs" with few chances for advancement. Among fulltime workers, women college graduates earn less than male high school dropouts. Working wives were still spending 6 times more time on housework than married men in 1975 and working mothers of preschool children are also hampered by a severe lack of daycare facilities. Children of working women, however, appear to develop normally. Equal employment opportunity and affirmative action measures have improved the climate for working women but not as much as for minorities. The federal income tax and social security systems still discriminate against 2 income families. Woman's position in the U.S. labor force should eventually improve with the inroads women are making in some male-dominated occupations and gains in job experience and seniority among younger women who now tend to stay in the labor force through the years of childbearing and early childrearing, unlike women in the 1950s and 1960s.     

Gender and racial inequities in retirement resources

Two waves of a Social Security Beneficiary survey were analyzed to consider differences in the retirement resources of women and men based on marital status and race/ethnicity. Despite increased workforce participation the economic situation of single women, including white women, worsened over time. A bifurcation in retirement resources was found, with men relying more on private income sources and women depending more on Social Security. Current retirement policies based on privatization will continue to adversely impact women who work at low-paying jobs, receive lower wages, and live longer than men.     

Mobility,Stagnation, or Attrition? Diverse Earning Trajectories in a Cohort of Foreign‐born Men

Researchers and policymakers frequently debate about the integration of immigrants into the US economy. These debates are often based on limited data that do not capture the diversity of immigrants who arrived in the later twentieth century. Related research has also struggled to incorporate the experience of short‐term immigrants or immigrants who move in and out of the labor force. Using records from the Social Security Administration, we track the complete cohort of foreign‐born men who received social security numbers in 1978 through their subsequent working years and characterize their earning trajectories. We find that the share of foreign‐born men with low earnings declined over time, mainly due to attrition from the formal labor force. We also show, for the first time, that immigrants’ employment and earning histories vary considerably by their countries of origin: while those from several countries in Asia and Africa experienced substantial earnings growth and tended to stay in the United States for the long term, men from Central America and the Caribbean experienced more stagnation and had high levels of temporary and permanent attrition from the formal labor force. We end by discussing the historical contingencies and socioeconomic contexts—in sending countries and the United States—that shaped these trajectories.     

Why do some women participate in the labor force while others stay at home?

This study analyzed data from the 1970 Korean Census to uncover the determinants of women's labor force participation (LFP) in Korea, in 1970, when industrialization was beginning and the traditional sex-roles of Confucianism prevailed. The population surveyed included urban women aged 14-65 (19,277 married, 4373 single and living with parents, and 3222 single living independently). The study began by reviewing supply side explanations for LFP by women that predict women with high earning potential are likely to participate in the labor force, and noting that this economic explanation fails to consider the effects of cultural mechanisms that emphasize female domesticity. The study then comments on the labor market structure in Korea, in 1970, that led to limited employment opportunities for women, the domestic ideology that was prevalent during the early industrial stage, and the impact of this domestic ideology on Korean women. The logistic regressions used in the analytical methodology are then described, and it is hypothesized that women will be less likely to seek employment if they have adequate family resources, they are married and have children, and they are part of an extended family. It is further hypothesized that women's education will have no significant impact on employment and that university education is important as a marriage asset. The study results support this hypothesis in regard to single women living with parents, but reveal a slight effect of education on LFP among married women.     

Social security reforms and poverty among older dual-earner couples

Existing retirement studies have, in the main, focused only on labor supply decisions of couples in which the husband has been the sole earner. This paper extends the focus of analysis to examine retirement among dual-earner couples. It further develops a framework for assessing how several past and prospective Social Security reforms might be expected to affect older working couples' retirement ages and retirement incomes. Two questions are addressed in some detail: (1) What are the likely effects of various changes in Social Security rules on the retirement decisions of older working women and their husbands? and (2) How might these changes alter the incidence of poverty among retired dual-earner couples? Empirical evidence from the United States suggests that many benefit reforms currently being discussed in policy circles will enhance Social Security system revenues, but will also worsen the economic status of an important segment of dual-earner couples.     

Women's labor force transitions in connection with childbirth: a panel data comparison between Germany,Sweden and Great Britain

In this paper we make use of the panel aspects of the German GSOEP, the Swedish HUS and the British BHPS data. In these data sets we known month and year of childbirth and the month to month labor force status of the mother also before giving birth. This permits analysis of labor force transitions triggered by child births of different birth orders. From macro data Swedish women are known to have the highest labor force participation. The difference in total labor force participation of women is totally a result of fewer mothers entering the labor force and entering later in Germany and Great Britain than in Sweden. This paper shows that before birth of first child there is no such difference. We find that German and British women have even higher full-time labor force participation than Swedish women 12 months before the birth of the first child. The difference is more pronounced for second and third births than for first births. We suggest that these differences are caused by different family policy regimes where Germany can be characterized as a breadwinner regime and Sweden a regime oriented towards equal role sharing of father and mother. Our results on determinants of being in the labor force both after and before the birth of a child as well as determinants of the tempo of entering the labor force after birth shows that women's own human capital is important both in Germany and Great Britain, whereas in Sweden also less educated women have entered the labor force by the time the child is 2 years old.All correspondence to Cécile Wetzels. We are grateful to Andrew McCulloch from ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change in Britain, who delivered the British BHPS-data. We also want to thank John F. Ermisch, Siv Gustafsson, Diane Sainsbury and two anonymous referees for useful comments. Financial support has been received by the Swedish Council in the Humanities and Social Sciences and the EU Human Capital and Mobility (HCM) network for the Female Labour Force Participation Network within which framework this analysis has been carried out. Responsible editors: S. S. Gustafsson, John R Ermisch.     

Married women's retirement behavior

In this paper we examine the economic and family determinants of married women's retirement behavior. A life cycle model of wives' retirement decisions is tested empirically using data on working married women from the Longitudinal Retirement History Survey. This exploratory analysis indicates that family considerations are more important in wives' retirement decisions than own economic opportunities. These findings contrast with those obtained previously for male workers and if substantiated by other research could have important implications for policy questions regarding pension and Social Security reform.This research was funded by the 1986–7 Small Grants Program sponsored by the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Institute for Research on Poverty, the Cornell Institute of Social and Economic Research, and the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Excellent programming assistance was provided by Vivian Fields. We are grateful to Glen Cain and two anonymous referees for useful comments. Any opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and not those of the above-named persons or institutions.     

Retirement against the demographic trend: More older people living longer, working less, and saving less?

The American population is aging rapidly and individuals are living longer. Yet Americans are saving less and older workers are leaving the labor force at younger and younger ages. The accelerated drop in labor force participation corresponds roughly to the introduction of Social Security and the adaption of employer-provided pension plans. I have illustrated that Social Security and employer-provided pension plans provide substantial incentive to leave the labor force early. The quantitative effect of this inducement is illustrated by simulating the effects of changes in pension plan and Social Security provisions on the retirement decisions of employees in a large firm, who are covered by a typical defined benefit pension plan. Scheduled Social Security changes would have little effect on the retirement decisions of employees with a typical defined benefit pension plan like the one considered here. But if the pension plan provisions were changed to correspond to the Social Security changes, the effect would be very large. And, although not contemplated by current legislation, it is clear that an increase in the Social Security early retirement age would have a substantial effect on the early retirement rates of the large number of employees not covered by a pension plan.     

A dynamic analysis of women’s employment exits

This research examines women’s rates of leaving a job to become nonemployed (unemployed or out of the labor force) using a stochastic, continuous-time model. The data consist of employment histories of white women constructed from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women (1968-1973). The results demonstrate the importance of examining the underlying processes in women’s employment. Several differences are found between the determinants of employment exits and what might be expected from the cross-sectional and panel literature on female labor force participation. The findings also provide evidence of the interdependence of fertility and employment, with young children increasing rates of employment exits and with high wages on ajob decreasing rates ofleaving a job because of a pregnancy. Finally, involuntary employment terminations are examined, and their transition rates are found to decrease with job wages and job tenure and to increase when a woman has children.     

International migration and labor force participation of married women

A focal issue in international immigration research has been immigration adaptation and assimilation and especially absorption and integration of immigrants into labor force roles. Nevertheless, such research has largely been focused on immigrant men, neglecting the systematic examination of labor force participation among immigrant women. This research is focused on the correlates of economic activity among immigrant and native born Jewish, urban, married females aged 18–54 in Israel. The specific objectives of the investigation are: (1) the impact of education, socioeconomic status, familial child care burdens, and ethnic background on the economic activity of native-born and immigrant, married women; and (2) to evaluate the extent to which the above patterns vary by veterancy and age. The data for this analysis are drawn from Israel's quarterly labor force survey of 6,000 families for 1970 and 1971. Education, socioeconomic status, ethnic origin, and child care burden were all found to have some effect on women's labor force participation; however, the pattern of effect was different for younger and older women and varied by veterancy status. Indications can be found in the data that age at immigration, or in other words the point in the women's life cycle at which immigration occurs, makes a difference in the type and strength of effect of immigration on labor force participation.Requests for reprints should be directed to Moshe Hartman, Department of Sociology, Population Research Laboratory, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322.     

A Group Practice Strategy for Helping Unemployed Older Women Find Employment

Unemployed older women face significant obstacles in the labor market when attempting to find employment. This article presents a grounded group practice strategy for assisting older women to regain employment. Previous research has shown that job search self-efficacy is a significant mediator of continued job search activity among older workers. Based on empirical research findings and Bandura's theory of self-efficacy, this practice approach focuses on helping older women to increase their job search self-efficacy and opportunities for securing employment.     

Economic development and labor force participation of older persons

The effect of economic development on labor force participation rates of older men and women is examined using national data for 134 countries. The analysis provides new insights into the evolution of retirement patterns with rising personal income, slowing population growth, the aging of the population, and shifts in the composition of employment. The analysis indicates a negative relationship between per capita income and labor force participation rates. This relationship is stronger for older men than for older women and is most apparent among middle income countries. An older population is associated with lower participation rates for older men and higher widow rates produce higher participation rates among older women. Industrial changes such as a decline in the proportion of the labor force employed in agriculture lower the proportion of older persons in the labor force. Finally, national social security policies are shown to impact the proportion of older persons that remains in the labor force.     

Separate taxation and married women's labor supply: a comparison of West Germany and Sweden

This paper uses Swedish and German micro data on wages, hours of work and human capital related variables for German and Swedish couples. When separate taxation was introduced in Sweden in 1971, incentives for married women to supply more labor to the market, was an important argument. A comparison with the behavior of German women, who are confronted with the high marginal taxes of split taxation, is a way of evaluating this policy. Effects of the specific tax systems are incorporated in logit analysis or married women's labor force participation. German and Swedish regressions differ significantly. Children are for example a major detering factor for German women's labor force participation but not for Swedish women.I have received helpful comments on earlier versions of the paper from Wim Groot, Christof Helberger, Notburga Ott, Robert J. Willis, participants at the European Society for Population Economics Conference and referees of the Journal of Population Economics, as well as participants of seminars at the Universities of Amsterdam, Aarhus, Frankfurt and Chicago.     

Economic and demographic effects on working women in Latin America

The paper uses historical census data and the latest household surveys to investigate the evolution of female employment in Latin America, the effect of demographic factors on female labor force participation, and the reasons for the observed male-female gap in labor earnings. The findings show that, though women's labor force participation in Latin America has indeed increased despite the adverse economic conditions of the last two decades, marriage and fertility still exercise a large negative effect on women's labor supply. On average in the 15 countries studied, marriage reduces the probability that a woman would work by half, and each child by a further 3–5% These effects result in age-participation profiles that decrease with age although the econometric analysis suggests that, as women get older, they have a ceteris paribus greater probability to seek employment. In all the countries studied women are rewarded less than men and gender differences in human capital characteristics cannot account for the observed earnings differential. The paper discusses the significance of the findings for potential policies to assist women, especially in the areas of education and fertility, and also suggests the direction of further reserarch.The views expressed here are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank and its affiliated organisations.     

Social security,age of retirement,and economic well-being: Intertemporal and demographic patterns among retired-worker beneficiaries

We examine the economic status of a sample of new recipients of social security retired-worker benefits shortly after their first receipt of benefits (1982) and 10 years later (1991). The probability that these retired-worker beneficiaries were poor or near-poor is positively and strongly associated with their acceptance of early retired-worker benefits. Early retirees, women who remained single, and women who lost their spouses experienced large declines in economic status over the decade following their first receipt of benefits. Although both women and men who first received benefits at younger ages had lower economic status than did those who became beneficiaries at older ages, this retirement age-related disadvantage increased over the decade for women but not for men.     

Individual mobility,population growth and labor force participation

Trends in labor force participation rates and the age of retirement are shown to be important determinants of upward mobility. Reductions in age specific participation rates increase the speed of movement through the employment hierarchy. In conjunction with economic development, the falling labor force participation of older men acts to offset the adverse effects of slowing population growth on promotional prospects. These conclusions are reached by extending a model of employment status developed by Keyfitz to limit employment competition to only those actually in the labor force.