Women Working Longer: Increased Employment at Older Ages

TLDR

In the United States, more women than ever are staying in the workforce into their sixties and seventies, a trend that began in the 1980s and now exceeds full‑time participation rates of older women in other developed countries. The book seeks to explain why older American women are increasingly remaining in the workforce by compiling new research on the phenomenon. The authors compile studies that examine how early education, work experience, marital disruption, household finances, and retirement benefits influence late‑life labor supply. The research shows that earlier education and work experience are linked to later‑life employment, offering insights useful to social scientists, employers, and policymakers.

Abstract

Today, more American women than ever before stay in the workforce into their sixties and seventies. This trend emerged in the 1980s, and has persisted during the past three decades, despite substantial changes in macroeconomic conditions. Why is this so? Today's older American women work full-time jobs at greater rates than women in other developed countries. In Women Working Longer, editors Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz assemble new research that presents fresh insights on the phenomenon of working longer. Their findings suggest that education and work experience earlier in life are connected to women's later-in-life work. Other contributors to the volume investigate additional factors that may play a role in late-life labor supply, such as marital disruption, household finances, and access to retirement benefits. A pioneering study of recent trends in older women's labor force participation, this collection offers insights valuable to a wide array of social scientists, employers, and policy makers.