Post-Retirement Paid Work and Inequalities at Older Ages

Participation in paid work frequently extends beyond pensionable age, with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development observing, in “Pensions at a Glance” (2017, pp. 126–7), that effective retirement ages in high-income countries exceed normal full-pension-eligibility ages by 10 months for men and two months for women. While working after pensionable age is becoming ever more common, not all workers on the cusp of retirement are able to continue in their current position or find a new job. Remarkably, little is known about the implications of unequal access to post-retirement work for social and income inequalities in later life, nor how job quality might change as people work into the years normally set aside for retirement. The four papers in this symposium address the following questions: 1) do bridge employment transitions exacerbate or mitigate income inequality later in life? 2) how does job quality (job satisfaction, physical and psychosocial working conditions) compare before and after pensionable age? 3) which processes lead to changes in working conditions in the late career? and 4) might empirical and theoretical gains be made by considering post-pensionable-age paid work as a specific career stage? The presenters use longitudinal data from the United States (the Health and Retirement Study, HRS), Sweden (Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health, SLOSH), and Japan (Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement, JSTAR) complemented by interviews with older workers in Sweden. This symposium will provide insights into the nature and consequences of working after pensionable age in contrasting institutional settings.

Ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea: Emergent Māori experiences of education employment transition

<p>The significance of genealogy on Māori transitions between education and employment is often not appreciated as a valid body of knowledge. This research seeks to consider a family history of Māori ‘education towards employment’ experiences and the ensuing conversations that have occurred as part of those experiences. Of major focus is the influence of state policy on systems that have educated Māori to become employable or unemployable, highlighting the often insidious nature of the underlying themes of assimilation, cultural adaptation and integration that have underpinned these policies. Kaupapa Māori theory is engaged as the methodological approach for this research, while a ‘hypothetical dialogue’, counter-storying and Critical Race Theory (CRT) form the theoretical frameworks for analysing the historical and contemporary narratives provided. What this enables is the positioning of a Māori lens with which to understand the inherent values, beliefs and experiential learning that emerge through using autoethnography and more specifically, indigenous autoethnography. This research details a series of conversations that portray the education-employment transitions of different generations of the researcher’s family. It is a highly personalised account shared to provide insight into the effect of policy on these transitions. Accompanied by scholarly commentary, the thematic material is derived from the collection and analysis of primary data such as genealogical and personal experience, which includes the analysis of family narratives and the observation of hui/meetings.1 Secondary data includes literature and review of policy, which provided a baseline for the research. The findings of the research establish deficit thinking as a distinctive, historic and recurring feature of systems that are supposed to educate Māori for employment, but which instead continue to educate and transition a significant number of young Māori into unemployment, underemployment and temporary employment arrangements. These findings contribute to the development of an initiative that supports Māori transitions between education and employment, and which looks to the design of a community hub dedicated to educating whole families at a grassroots level; specifically focusing on a group of parents and whānau studying towards an undergraduate qualification based at their local kura/school.</p>

Ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea: Emergent Māori experiences of education employment transition

<p>The significance of genealogy on Māori transitions between education and employment is often not appreciated as a valid body of knowledge. This research seeks to consider a family history of Māori ‘education towards employment’ experiences and the ensuing conversations that have occurred as part of those experiences. Of major focus is the influence of state policy on systems that have educated Māori to become employable or unemployable, highlighting the often insidious nature of the underlying themes of assimilation, cultural adaptation and integration that have underpinned these policies. Kaupapa Māori theory is engaged as the methodological approach for this research, while a ‘hypothetical dialogue’, counter-storying and Critical Race Theory (CRT) form the theoretical frameworks for analysing the historical and contemporary narratives provided. What this enables is the positioning of a Māori lens with which to understand the inherent values, beliefs and experiential learning that emerge through using autoethnography and more specifically, indigenous autoethnography. This research details a series of conversations that portray the education-employment transitions of different generations of the researcher’s family. It is a highly personalised account shared to provide insight into the effect of policy on these transitions. Accompanied by scholarly commentary, the thematic material is derived from the collection and analysis of primary data such as genealogical and personal experience, which includes the analysis of family narratives and the observation of hui/meetings.1 Secondary data includes literature and review of policy, which provided a baseline for the research. The findings of the research establish deficit thinking as a distinctive, historic and recurring feature of systems that are supposed to educate Māori for employment, but which instead continue to educate and transition a significant number of young Māori into unemployment, underemployment and temporary employment arrangements. These findings contribute to the development of an initiative that supports Māori transitions between education and employment, and which looks to the design of a community hub dedicated to educating whole families at a grassroots level; specifically focusing on a group of parents and whānau studying towards an undergraduate qualification based at their local kura/school.</p>

Employment Transitions and Mental Health in a Cohort of 45 Years and Older Australians

Background: This study investigated the associations between employment transitions and psychological distress among a cohort of 45 years and older Australians. Methods: This study was based on the 45 and Up Study, a large prospective cohort of participants aged 45 years and older (N = 267,153), followed up over the period 2006–2015. The risk of psychological distress was compared between various employment transitions categories by specifying an ordered logistic regression model adjusting for confounders. Results: Compared to participants who remained employed at baseline and follow-up, higher psychological distress was found among those who transitioned from being employed to unemployed (OR = 2.68, 95%CI 2.13–3.33) and to not being in the labour force or retired (OR = 2.21, 95%CI 1.85–2.62). Higher psychological distress was also evident among those who remained unemployed from baseline to follow-up (OR = 2.00, 95%CI 1.10–3.43), and those who transitioned from being retired to being unemployed (OR = 1.55, 95%CI 1.03–2.27). Conversely, lower psychological distress was found among those who transitioned from being unemployed to being employed (OR = 0.35, 95%CI 0.25–0.51). In general, lower psychological distress was found among ‘positive’ employment transitions (transitioning to being employed or retired). Conclusions: Policies focussing on re-employment in older age, as well as unemployment schemes, might be helpful in reducing psychological distress among middle- and old-age Australians.

Longitudinal Associations of Marital, Parenting, and Employment Transitions with Weight Gain in a Multi-Ethnic Asian Population Aged 21 Years and Above

Identifying when most weight gain occurs throughout the life course can inform targeted public health interventions. We evaluated the association of childbirth, marriage, and employment changes with weight changes in a multi-ethnic Asian cohort. Singapore Multi-Ethnic Cohort participants ≥21 years (n = 9655) who identified as ethnic Chinese, Malay, or Indian were weighed and interviewed about marital status, employment, and number of children at baseline and after about four years. We used multivariable regression to evaluate life transitions in relation to weight change and major gain (≥5 kg), and adjusted for socio-demographic covariates. Weight gain was 3.55 kg (95% CI 3.17, 3.94) higher in young adults (21–30 years) compared with participants older than 60 years at baseline. Getting married was associated with weight gain in women, but not men (p interaction < 0.01). Women who got married gained 1.63 kg (95% CI 0.88, 2.38) more weight and were more likely to gain ≥5 kg (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.35, 2.93) than those remaining unmarried. Having children was not associated with weight gain. Only among ethnic Indians, remaining a homemaker was associated with less weight gain than remaining employed. In this multi-ethnic Asian population, obesity prevention efforts should target young adulthood and, in women, the transition into marriage.

HEALTH INEQUALITY ON LABOR MARKET: EXPLORING HEALTH-RELATED EMPLOYMENT TRANSITIONS AMONG KOREAN YOUNG ADULTS

This study aims to evaluate relationships between employees' subjective and mental health and non-regular employment. I use three-wave (2012, 2015, and 2018) from the Korean Youth Panel data to access relationships between health indicators and non-regular employment. I also explore gender differences to access if relationships between health and employment are different for the two sexes. I utilized the random-effects model to estimate the association between health indicators and non-regular employment across three waves. I found that mental health indicators rather than subjective health affect one’s odds of attending a temporary job. Also, the transition or maintenance of temporary positions showed that mental health indicators were associated with the transition from regular to a temporary job but were not associated with the maintenance of temporary positions. Additional analysis showed men were more likely to attend a temporary job if they had suicidal thoughts, while women were more susceptible to daily stress, despair, and suicidal thoughts altogether. I discuss the implications of this study for research and policy on non-regular employment's influence on youth’s health.

Unraveling the Complex Relationship Between Work Transitions and Self-Esteem and Life Satisfaction

Transitions in and out of work are common experiences with major repercussions for people’s lives. The complex link between work transitions and psychological adjustment is not well understood, however. In this preregistered study, we analyzed 11 waves of longitudinal data from 13,671 participants (representative of the Dutch population) to examine the transactional effects between repeated work transitions (employment and unemployment) and psychological adjustment (self-esteem and life satisfaction). Specifically, we investigated change trajectories before and after the transitions and tested whether moderator variables predicted individual differences in change. Participants with lower levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction were more likely to experience unemployment and less likely to experience employment transitions, indicating selection effects. Participants decreased in their self-esteem and life satisfaction before the beginning of the unemployment transition, indicating anticipatory socialization effects. These effects did not differ for multiple experiences of the same transition. Participants showed larger increases in life satisfaction in response to employment transitions when they experienced higher levels of job satisfaction. Participants showed larger decreases in self-esteem before unemployment transitions when they experienced a longer duration of unemployment. Our findings point to bidirectional effects between work transitions and self-esteem and life satisfaction, which is consistent with transactional theories. They also highlight the importance of the timing of changes before and after work transitions, the dynamic nature of the transition-adjustment link, and the existence of individual differences in psychological adjustment to work transitions that were linked to characteristics of the corresponding transition.