Data and Method
Literature
Valentina Ponomarenko (Dipl.-Soz.) University of Luxembourg
valentina.ponomarenko@uni.lu
Background
Transition from w orking life to retirem ent has been associated w ith d ifferent consequ ences in p ast research. Increasing, d ecreasing or ad ju sting life satisfaction has been fou nd for d ifferent p op u lation grou p s.
H igher ed u cation, occu p ational statu s or incom e have been p red ictors of better overall w ell-being of p re-retired p op u lation (Gallo et al. 2006). Bu t is this ad vantage also p ertaining into retirem ent?
Scarring effect d enotes the influ ence of p ast u nem p loym ent on one’s career chances. H ow ever, u nem p loym ent has also an im p act on w ell-being. Som e of it w ears off, bu t for exam p le for low er ed u cated grou p s the effect of u nem p loym ent is m ore long-term (Mand em akers & Mond en 2013). Does the exp erience of u nem p loym ent influ ence life satisfaction even after retirem ent transition?
Survey of Health, A geing and Retirement in Europe (SHA RE)
• Wave 1 (2004/ 05), Wave 2 (2006/ 07), Wave 4 (2011/ 12), Job Ep isod e Panel
• 12 countries (AT, DE, NL, BE, SE, FR, IT, ES, PL, CZ, CH , DK)
• DV: Life Satisfaction (0-11)
• Sample: retired in between two waves (age 50-80)
• Linear regression of life satisfaction after the entry to retirem ent
• N=1994
Health and Retirement Survey (HRS)
• Wave L (2008), Wave M (2010) • United States of America
• DV: Life Satisfaction (ordinal, not at all satisfied to com p letely satisfied ) • Sample: retired in between the two
w aves (age 50-80)
• Ordinal regression of life satisfaction after the entry to retirem ent
• N=1296
DiPrete, Thom as A. DiPrete; Eirich, Gregory M. (2006): Cu m u lative Ad vantage as a Mechanism for Inequ ality: A Review of Theoretical and Em p irical Develop m ents. In Annu al Review of Sociology 32, p p . 271–297.
Gallo, William T.; Brad ley, Elizabeth H .; Du bin, Joel A.; Jones, Richard N . (2006): The Persistence of Dep ressive Sym p tom s in Old er Workers Who Exp erience Involu ntary Job Loss: Resu lts From the H ealth and Retirem ent Su rvey. In The Jou rnals of
Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 61 (4), p p . 221–228. Mand em akers, Jornt J.; Mond en, Christiaan W.S (2013): Does the effect of job loss on p sychological d istress d iffer by ed u cational level? In Work, Em p loym ent and Society 27 (1).
Results
In the analysis of the life satisfaction after retirem ent several influ encing factors have been id entified . The analyses have been cond u cted sep arately for the SH ARE d ata set and the H RS for the US. The sam p le consisted of p articip ants w ho w ere in the labou r m arket or non-em p loyed on the first observed w ave and retired in the follow ing su rvey w ave.
The aim of the stu d y w as to exam ine the effect of social inequ ality on life satisfaction after entering retirem ent as w ell the inqu iry of a scarring effect. An im p act of ed u cation and u nem p loym ent exp erience on life satisfaction after retirem ent w as fou nd in the Eu rop ean SH ARE cou ntries. It su ggests that, in com p arison to p rim ary ed u cation, u p p er second ary ed u cation lead s to m ore life satisfaction . Retirees, w ho have been u nem p loyed or sick before retirem ent have less life satisfaction in com p arison to those retiring from labou r force. Being a single lead s to less life satisfaction as w ell living in other areas bu t N orthern Eu rop e.
For the US som e sim ilar resu lts can be observed . Retiring from an u nem p loyed statu s d ecreases the od d s of the p ercep tion of a completely satisfied life. This ap p lies also to w id ow hood . Being in good health increases the od d s of a higher life satisfaction. Even w hen controlling for gend er d ifferences, m arital statu s and the self-rated health statu s the negative effect of u nem p loym ent p ersists, althou gh ind ivid u als are alread y in retirem ent.
Discussion
The analysis show ed a p ositive effect of ed u cation in Eu rop e and a stable negative effect of u nem p loym ent. Therefore scarring has still an effect in retirem ent, d ecreasing the overall life satisfaction even w hen em p loym ent situ ation d oesn’t m atter anym ore.
This has an im p act on ou r p ercep tion of the influ ence of w ork life on w ell-being in general and its d u ration beyond w orking age. There is ind eed an im p act of w ork exp erience in the life cou rse on retirem ent. For the fu tu re it w ou ld be interesting to research on socioeconom ic d ifferences on retirem ent, for exam p le the w orking sector, typ e of w ork and incom e.
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