Working in collaboration with the Families and Work Institute, data from the National Study of the Changing Workforce were used to examine differences in the employment experiences of male and female older workers and the experiences of older workers and younger workers who are employees, self-employed, and small business owners.

key research questions

• How do the employment experiences of workers aged 50 and older vary, depending on whether they are wage & salary workers, independent consultants, or small business owners?
• How do the employment experiences of male and female workers aged 50 and older vary?
• How do the employment experiences of workers under the age of 50 and those aged 50 and older vary?

selected findings

The Diverse Employment Experiences of Older Men and Women in the Workforce

• Thirty-eight percent of male workers aged 50 or older have college degrees or more education in comparison to 28% of the females.
• Male workers aged 50 or older (80%) are more likely than females (62%) to be married/living with a partner.
• Female workers aged 50 or older (79%) are more likely than males (66%) to live in dual-earner households.
• Female workers aged 50 or older tend to live in households with lower family incomes than their male counterparts. In 2002, the average (mean) annual income of male workers 50 and older was $66,300 compared with the annual family income of the females.
• Male workers aged 50 and older devote more time to paid employment each week (47.3 hours) than females (41 hours/week).
• 65% of male workers aged 50 and older and 62% of females prefer to work fewer hours per week than they currently do.
• Female workers aged 50 and older earn 55 cents for every dollar that the males earn from all hours worked at all jobs. Comparing hourly rates of pay at main jobs, these women earn 69 cents for every dollar the men earn.
• 45% of male workers aged 50 or older have access to guaranteed benefits plans at work in comparison to the 35% of the females.
• 26% of females aged 50 and older and 28% of the males have access to high levels of flexible work options.
• When thinking about the future, a majority of workers aged 50 or older either want jobs with the same amount of responsibility (66% of the men and 74% of the women) or more responsibility (22% of the men and 14% of the women). A minority wanted jobs with less responsibility.

Context Matters

• Workers 50 years or older are more likely than younger workers to be independent self-employed workers (17% vs. 12% of younger workers). Given the greater likelihood that these independents have greater degrees of choice and control with regard to their employment experiences, these independents can be considered to be in situations of “extreme flexibility.”
• Small business owners are much more likely to have flexibility at the workplace than wage/salaried workers, with the self-employed independents falling in between. For example, 91% of the small business owners, 82% of the self-employed independents, and 44% of the wage/salaried workers report that they can periodically choose their own starting & quitting times within some range of hours.
• Older workers are less likely to be wage/salaried workers than younger workers (74% vs. 8%3).
• Among workers 50 years or older, those who are small business owners have higher annual earnings ($114.102) than wage/salaried workers ($52,635) or those who are independent self-employed individuals ($78,110).
• Older workers who are self-employed independents (89%) are less likely than wage/salaried workers (95%) or small business owners (92%) to have health insurance.
• Older workers who are small business owners tend to spend longer hours at work each week in comparison to those who are wage/salaried workers or self-employed independents: 59% of small business owners spend more than 40 hours per week at work compared to 52% of the wage/salaried workers and 38% of the self-employed independents.
• Higher percentages of older workers who are self-employed independents (38%) would prefer to work the same hours as they currently do in contrast to the small business owners (34%) or the wage/salaried workers (27%).
• Older workers who are small business owners are more likely to report that their job offers them opportunities to learn new things, with 75% of small business owners, 69% of the self-employed independents, and 40% of the wage/salaried workers reporting that it is “very true” that their jobs allow them to develop their skills and abilities.

publications

• Insight About Older Workers from the National Study of the Changing Workforce (November 2005)
• Diverse Employment Experiences of Older Men and Women in the Workforce (November 2005)

contact

For questions of information regarding the Changing US Workforce and Older Workers Project, please contact:

Chad Minnich, MAVA., Assistant Director, Marketing & Communications

minnicch@bc.edu  |  +1 . 617 . 552 . 3122

the changing us workforce and older workers project team

To schedule a conversation with any of our staff, please contact Chad Minnich, Assistant Director, Marketing & Communications, at 617-552-3122, or minnicch@bc.edu

James T. Bond	Vice President, Research Director, Work-Life Research Families and Work Institute James T. Bond is Vice President for Research and Director of Work-Life Research at Families and Work Institute (FWI). In addition to providing technical advice on research design and data analysis for all major research projects of the Institute, he is responsible for The National Study of the Changing Workforce which surveys nationally representative samples of employees and The Business Work-Life Study which surveys nationally representative samples of employers. He is one of the lead authors for the Center’s Research Highlights #1 and #2 which looked at demographics and gender differences among older workers.
Ellen M. Galinsky	President & Co-Founder Families and Work Institute Ellen Galinsky is President and Co-Founder of Families and Work Institute (FWI), a Manhattan-based non-profit organization that conducts research on the changing family, changing workforce and changing community. Before co-founding FWI, Ms. Galinsky was on the faculty of Bank Street College of Education for 25 years, where she helped establish the field of work and family life.
Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, PhD	Director Sloan Center on Aging & Work, Boston College  Associate Professor Graduate School of Social Work & Carroll School of Management, Boston College Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes directs the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College. She is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work, and has appointments at the Boston College Carroll School of Management and the Business School at Middlesex University in London. She was the Co-Principal Investigator for the 2006 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development and the 2007-2008 Age & Generations Study. Her current work includes oversight of the 2009 Talent Management Study. She will be leading the 2010 Generations of Talent study with colleagues from around the world. She was invited to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging as an issue expert, and recently co-edited a special issue of Generations (2007) that focused on aging and work. Dr. Pitt-Catsouphes was a recipient of the 2007 Work-Life Legacy Award. She serves on several boards and advisory committees, including the National Advisory Committee for Workplace 2010 at Georgetown University, the Strategy Board for the Association of Work/Life Professionals at the World of Work, and the Purdue Center for Families. Dr. Pitt-Catsouphes’ articles have been published in a number of scholarly and practitioner journals. She was a founding co-editor for the international journal, Community, Work and Family. Her publications include The Work-Family Handbook: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives and Approaches to Research, published by Erlbaum Publishers (2006) which she edited with colleagues. She received her BA from Tufts University, MSP from Boston College, and PhD from Boston University.
Michael Smyer, PhD	Provost Bucknell University Research Fellow Sloan Center on Aging & Work, Boston College Michael Smyer is the provost and a professor of psychology at Bucknell University. Prior to joining Bucknell, Smyer was a professor of psychology and co-director of the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College. At the Center, he focused on developing evidence-based practices to enhance the individual and organizational effectiveness of 21st-century workplaces. Smyer's research and teaching focus on adult development and aging, with special attention to the impact of the contexts of aging. In addition, he has written extensively on aging and mental health, particularly the policy aspects of this area.