Older Workers Managing a Disability: An Examination of Gender Differences

Amy Pienta, University of Michigan
Tyson H. Brown, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The goal of this paper is to examine the effects that disability has on work transitions of older workers with particular attention given to understanding gender differences. Using a life course approach, we hypothesize that work disability might affect labor force supply of men and women differently, such that disability has a greater impact on men's work than women's. Longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), waves 1 (1992) and 2 (1994), are employed to investigate work transitions of disabled workers. Results from logistic and multinomial logistic models of work transitions reveal that disabled men experience the highest rates of labor force exit and lowest reentry rates. Whereas among women, disability has a much more limited effect on labor supply.