Job change in later life: A process of marginalization?

ABSTRACT

Adopting a longitudinal approach, this article examines downward occupational mobility (DOM) later in working life and its effects on job satisfaction and perceptions of working conditions of older workers in Europe. The main aim was to test whether the risk that workers will be negatively impacted and marginalized in the labor market due to demotion into lower quality jobs is offset by benefits. Based on an ordinal logistic regression of merged Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and English Longitudinal Study of Ageing datasets, the study found a positive significant impact of DOM on overall job satisfaction. Moreover, DOM was associated with a statistically significant reduction in workload pressure, although it did increase physical work demand. This article adds to the literature on marginalization of workers with indications that the lower income and status associated with DOM at older ages may have offsetting benefits.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Questions wording: (1) All things considered, I am satisfied with my job. (2) I am under constant time pressure due to a heavy workload. (3) My job is physically demanding. (4) I have an opportunity to develop new skills. (5) I have very little freedom to decide how I do my work.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing (LLHW) Cross-Council Programme [ES/L002884/1]. The LLHW funding partners for this award are the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council. This article uses data from SHARE waves 1, 2, 4, and 5. The SHARE data collection was primarily funded by the European Commission through the 5th Framework Programme (project QLK6-CT-2001-00360 in the thematic program Quality of Life), through the 6th Framework Programme (projects SHARE-I3, RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE, CIT5-CT-2005-028857, and SHARELIFE, CIT4-CT-2006-028812) and through the 7th Framework Programme (SHARE-PREP, No. 211909, SHARE-LEAP, No. 227822, and SHARE M4, No. 261982). Additional funding from the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01 AG09740-13S2, P01 AG005842, P01 AG08291, P30 AG12815, R21 AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG BSR06-11, and OGHA 04-064) and the German Ministry of Education and Research as well as from various national sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org for a full list of funding institutions).