The so-called Great Recession has changed how Americans view work, and not just due to our 10% unemployment rate. Attacks on social security and pensions, the disappearing social safety net, and the need for many older adults to support younger family members (at a life stage when both had perhaps once expected that support would flow in the opposite direction) has delayed or ended retirement for many Americans. At the same time, job prospects for the long-term unemployed are sufficiently poor—which, as we recently discussed, particularly afflicts older adults—that many are forced into undesired, unfunded retirement.
In our recent article on employment and aging, we discussed why older adults struggle to find work, compared to younger cohorts. This may lead one to ask: what are the factors that lead older adults to search for new work? Clearly, unemployment, the loss of pensions, and the need to support spouses, children and grandchildren all lead individuals to take on new employment. Beyond individual circumstances, however, are there structural factors that influence who works? What can we learn about differences between communities, classes, ethnic groups, and regions in terms of which older adults seek out and take on work?
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