Women’s Late Careers in Europe and the USA (completed)

The project analyses employment chances, labour market sequences and transitions between work, family care, and retirement of women in the late career stage (i.e. aged between 50 and 70) in  international comparison. During the last decades, a sharp increase in employment rates of older women can be observed in almost all industrialised societies. However, research on women’s careers mainly concentrates on the reconciliation of work and family in mid-life, while detailed analyses on the late careers of women and respective gender differences are scarce. The project addresses this research gap and examines the interplay of individual, couple/family, workplace, and institutional factors in women’s late careers in Europe and the USA. The fundamental research questions are what factors shape the employment behaviour of women in their late careers and how these factors produce inequality in employment chances and labour market transitions. The project will use international and national panel data and will combine sequence analysis of employment trajectories, event history analysis of specific career transitions, and multilevel analysis to examine micro-macro linkages.

For further information, please visit the project site at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research.