HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by McLaughlin, D. K. Articles by Jensen, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by McLaughlin, D. K. Articles by Jensen, L.

Work History and U.S. Elders' Transitions into Poverty

^a Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology and Population Research Institute. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

Correspondence: Diane K. McLaughlin, PhD, 110C Armsby Building, University Park, PA 16802. E-mail: dkk{at}psu.edu.

Decision Editor: Vernon L. Greene, PhD

Poverty risks among elders are shaped in critical ways by their work history, demographic characteristics, current marital status, and residential context. Using 25 years of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we combined past occupation and work history of elders and their spouses with information on current marital status and residence to estimate discrete time event history models of first transitions into poverty after reaching age 55. Education, work history, and preretirement wages contributed to men's and some women's probability of becoming poor. Work history remained an important predictor of transitions into poverty, even after controlling for preretirement wages and human capital. Metropolitan residence was associated with a lower probability of making transitions into poverty. This residential difference was not appreciably attenuated in three of four elderly subgroups after measures of work history, preretirement wages, current life events, and demographic characteristics of the elders were included in the models.

Key Words: Residential differences • Event history analysis

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. Slack and L. Jensen Employment Hardship Among Older Workers: Does Residential and Gender Inequality Extend Into Older Age? J. Gerontol. B. Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci., January 1, 2008; 63(1): S15 - S24. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]