Working Paper: NBER ID: w22607
Authors: Claudia Goldin; Lawrence F. Katz
Abstract: American women are working more, through their sixties and even into their seventies. Their increased participation at older ages started in the late 1980s before the turnaround in older men’s labor force participation and the economic downturns of the 2000s. The higher labor force participation of older women consists disproportionately of those working at full-time jobs. Increased labor force participation of women in their older ages is part of the general increase in cohort labor force participation. Cohort effects, in turn, are mainly a function of educational advances and greater prior work experience. But labor force participation rates of the most recent cohorts in their forties are less than those for previous cohorts. It would appear that employment at older ages could stagnate or even decrease. But several other factors will be operating in an opposing direction leading us to conclude that women are likely to continue to work even longer.
Keywords: Labor Force Participation; Older Women; Cohort Effects; Educational Attainment
JEL Codes: J21; J22; J26
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Educational attainment (I21) | Labor force participation (J21) |
| Prior work experience (J29) | Labor force participation (J21) |
| Job satisfaction (J28) | Continued employment (J63) |
| Marital status (J12) | Labor force participation (J21) |
| Employment status of spouses (J12) | Labor force participation (J21) |
| Full-time employment among older women (J21) | Labor force participation (J21) |
| Cohort effects (C92) | Labor force participation (J21) |