Understanding the Aging Workforce Defining a Research Agenda (2022) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 91-116
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From page 91... ...
We then describe and analyze complex processes of joint retirement decisions. We end this section by reviewing how family and household structures have evolved significantly over time, shifting from marriage as a normative and universal practice in the 20th century to the current diversity of family types in the 21st century, and discussing the implications of these changes for work and retirement research.
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From page 92... ...
. In sum, informal caregiving is associated with earlier retirement and a lower probability of returning to the labor force after retirement.
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argues both of these social relations may be equally important to formal labor force participation. Weak versus strong social ties may also play an important role when searching for employment (Granovetter, 1995, 1981; Marsden and Campbell, 1984)
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From page 94... ...
argues social compositions and social structures vary by race, ethnicity, gender, and nativity, and may contribute to longstanding labor force participation inequities. Age is another important dimension, as older adults are more likely to access their social capital to find employment, whereas younger people are more likely to rely on their human capital (Gayen et al., 2010)
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From page 95... ...
Race and ethnicity may also shape the timing of exits, with White people both better positioned in the labor market and having more resources (health, education) than Black people, Hispanic people, or other minority groups (Moen et al., 2021; Lahey, 2018; Stainback et al., 2018; Zajacova et al., 2014; Warner and Brown, 2011; Willson, 2003)
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From page 96... ...
The economic effects of these differences in education on employment and income cumulate over the life course, affecting access to public and private retirement benefits and wealth accumulation, resulting in large racial-ethnic disparities in financial resources and security at older ages. Although almost 90 percent of older nonHispanic White workers receive Social Security benefits, only 81 percent of older Black workers, and 75 percent of older Hispanic workers do so.
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From page 97... ...
. Emerging research suggests COVID-19 has had particularly acute impacts on the labor force participation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, as well as older adults (Miller, 2020; Moen et al., 2020)
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From page 98... ...
More work on all of these questions is urgently needed, because differences in work at older ages translate into meaningful differences in retiree well-being. Importantly, this work needs to take account of the fact that education-based differences in labor force participation rates begin long before traditional retirement ages.
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From page 99... ...
Organizations and the conditions they establish affect the career decisions workers make over their life course. So much of the retirement literature focuses on individual decisions and the role public policy plays in them; however, organizations and workplace practices also play a critical role in shaping retirement pathways.
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From page 100... ...
. Although all jobs can have both good and bad features, classifying them as "good jobs" or "bad jobs" is a dichotomous way to discuss the overall characteristics of job quality, and is a useful heuristic for contrasting a set of dimensions in the labor market.
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From page 101... ...
. The Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College has tested a model of eight elements of job quality that employers can strengthen in ways that improve the fit between employee needs and preferences and those of the organization, all of which have been shown to be very important to older workers (McNamara and Pitt-Catsouphes, 2020; Pitt-Catsouphes et al., 2015)
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. The dimensions of job quality and the total worker health approach primarily reveal a set of characteristics that reflect the interests of employees and what they would like from the work experience.
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In other cases, interests will differ. For example, older workers' interests in more flexible retirement pathways or flexible work arrangements may conflict with employers' interests in facilitating the exit of older workers.
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Developmental Practices Age-related development practices refers to workplace practices that help older workers acquire new knowledge, skills, and abilities (van Dalen et al., 2015; Kooij et al., 2014)
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. To prevent age-based exclusion, organizations need to ensure compliance with antidiscrimination laws, such as actively avoiding the prohibited practices stipulated in the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which include using age preferences, limitations, or specifications in job advertisements (Wang and Fang, 2020)
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From page 106... ...
used data from 3,888 organizations based on the Annual Workplace Survey implemented by the Society for Human Resource Management and showed that when age-inclusive practices were implemented, age diversity at workplaces had stronger positive effects on human capital and social capital, which eventually facilitated organizational performance. KEY PRACTICES In this section, we focus on particular practices associated with job quality: flexible work arrangements, training practices, a supportive climate for age diversity and inclusion, and compensation and benefits.
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From page 107... ...
in shaping who has access to flexible work arrangements, alternative work paths, and other aspects of the opportunity structure. Corporate as well as public labor market and retirement policies and practices were developed in the middle of the last century 3Data are from The Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)
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From page 108... ...
Even prior to the pandemic, some organizations were proactively addressing the needs and desires of their aging workforces by offering schedule flexibility, late career development, and ways to scale back (Dychtwald et al., 2013) , as well as rehiring their retirees (Oude Mulders, Henkens, and Schippers, 2015)
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From page 109... ...
. Studies in the organizational psychology training literature suggest that training that is targeted toward older workers is more effective at providing extensive human capital development and a stronger positive relationship with wages (Hedge et al., 2006b; Charness et al., 2001; Sterns and Doverspike, 1988; Sterns, 1986)
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It is well established that compensation (earnings as well as pension wealth) increases over much of the life course.
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From page 111... ...
This Lazear contract encourages the worker to exert effort and benefits the worker as long as the present value of compensation is greater than the minimum acceptable wage the worker believes she can earn elsewhere in the labor market. In contrast to the human capital model, in the Lazear model earnings rise faster than productivity over the life course.6 These alternative models of rising earnings profiles provide different explanations as to why firms offer pensions to employees in an effort to shape retirement behavior.7 As Becker (1964)
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From page 112... ...
Moreover, with an aging workforce, employers may face some difficulties in meeting labor demand needs if they cannot induce enough older individuals to remain in the labor market. Thus, the reduced incentives to retire generated by the shift from DB to DC plans may, over the next few decades, offer some advantages because of the need to try to keep older individuals working, even if, in the steady state, the shift in pensions might otherwise pose challenges to employers.
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From page 113... ...
Employee Voice and Participation Mechanisms of employee voice are means by which older workers can influence their employment conditions. Employee voice has many different aspects and meanings.
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From page 114... ...
The extent to which technology extends the employment of older workers depends on several factors, including organizational culture, employee skill level, and technology design. An inclusive organizational culture that welcomes age-diversity is more likely to implement technology in a way that increases the ability of older workers to be productive.
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From page 115... ...
In addition, age-specific practices can expand retirement pathways, address age stereotyping, more effectively develop human capital, and increase retirement security. But again, such targeted practices can draw organizational resources to a specific group and contribute to discord and resentment within the workforce.
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From page 116... ...
Dimensions of job quality and the total worker health approach emphasize the importance of constructive relationships, a culture of respect, opportunities for training and meaningful work, good pay, flexibility and control, safety, and stability -- all important features of workplaces valued by workers. Whether these practices are implemented at the workplace, however, depends very much on the interests of both employers and employees, which we emphasize throughout our discussion of workplace practices.
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