Full Citation

Title: Derailed by the COVID-19 Economy? An Intersectional and Life Course Analysis of Older Adults’ Shifting Work Attachments

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2022

ISBN:

ISSN: 15523381

DOI: 10.1177/00027642211066061

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Abstract: This paper addresses the uneven employment effects on older Americans (aged 50–75) of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on monthly Current Population Survey data from January through December 2020, we take an intersectional and life course approach to study the labor market effects of COVID-19 on older Americans. First, we chart monthly labor force states throughout 2020 for older adult subgroups defined by age, gender, and race/ethnicity. We then examine transitions out of and into work from one month to the next. We find gendered age-graded declines in employment, increases in unemployment, and increases in the proportions of people in their 50s reporting they are not in the labor force for other reasons (NILF-other), most dramatically for Asian and Hispanic women. There is little change in age-graded retirement from before to during the pandemic, regardless of gender or race/ethnicity, though there are education-level effects, with those without a college degree more likely to retire in the face of COVID-19. White men with a college degree are the most apt to retain their work engagement.

Url: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00027642211066061

Url: https://journals-sagepub-com.ezp2.lib.umn.edu/doi/full/10.1177/00027642211066061

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Authors: Moen, Phyllis; Pedtke, Joseph H.; Flood, Sarah

Periodical (Full): American Behavioral Scientist

Issue:

Volume:

Pages: 1-27

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Aging and Retirement, Health, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Race and Ethnicity

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