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Gender differences in paid employment after retirement

Psychosocial working conditions and well-being

Geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede in der Erwerbstätigkeit nach Renteneintritt

Psychosoziale Arbeitsbedingungen und Wohlbefinden

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Abstract

Background

An increasing number of persons continue to work after retirement age. This decision is often different between men and women as well as working histories, sectors and hierarchical positions; however, whether gender differences in working conditions and occupational well-being also exist in paid employment after retirement (PEAR) has not yet been investigated.

Objective

This study aimed to examine gender differences in working conditions and well-being of workers in PEAR.

Material and methods

In this study 784 employees (23.5% female) aged 65 years and older who were contracted by a Dutch temporary employment agency, participated in the baseline survey in 2011. Furthermore, a panel of 228 employees (25.9% female) participated again during a second wave in 2012. Job demands, job control, emotional exhaustion and job engagement were assessed at both time points by validated self-reporting measures.

Results

Female employees worked fewer years in paid employment before 65 years of age, were more likely to be single, divorced or widowed, had a smaller income and worked less hours during PEAR than men. In the baseline analysis, females reported less job control and higher job stress than men. No gender differences were found on emotional exhaustion, engagement or job demands. Over the study period emotional exhaustion only increased in females. The longitudinal trend of job demands, control and engagement did not significantly differ between both sexes.

Conclusion

The results suggest that working conditions of PEAR are less favorable for women than for men. Furthermore, the longitudinal trend of emotional exhaustion seems to be more disadvantageous for women.

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund

Immer mehr Personen bleiben auch nach Renteneintritt erwerbstätig. Diese Entscheidung ist oft geschlechtsabhängig und, obwohl sich Männer und Frauen bezüglich Erwerbsbiografie, Arbeitsbranche und Position oft voneinander unterscheiden, gibt es bislang keine Studie zu geschlechtsspezifischen Unterschieden hinsichtlich Arbeitsbedingungen und Wohlbefinden bei Erwerbstätigkeit nach Renteneintritt.

Fragestellung

Ziel der Studie ist die Untersuchung geschlechtsspezifischer Unterschiede bezüglich psychosozialer Arbeitsbedingungen und Wohlbefinden bei Erwerbstätigkeit nach Renteneintritt.

Material und Methoden

An der ersten Befragungswelle 2011 nahmen 784 Angestellte einer niederländischen Zeitarbeitsagentur für Beschäftigte über 65 Jahre (23,5 % weiblich) teil. Ein Jahr später konnten 228 Teilnehmer (25,9 % weiblich) erneut befragt werden. Sozioökonomische Variablen, Anforderungen, Kontrolle und Engagement bei der Arbeit sowie emotionale Erschöpfung wurden mithilfe validierter Selbstbeurteilungsskalen erhoben.

Ergebnisse

Frauen waren weniger Jahre vor ihrem 66. Lebensjahr erwerbstätig, häufiger ledig, verwitwet oder geschieden, hatten ein geringeres Einkommen und arbeiteten weniger Stunden während ihrer Beschäftigung nach Renteneintritt als Männer. Zur ersten Befragungswelle gaben Frauen weniger Kontrolle und höhere Arbeitsbelastungen an. Bezüglich emotionaler Erschöpfung, Anforderungen und Engagement wurden keine signifikanten Unterschiede verzeichnet. Über den Studienverlauf nahm die emotionale Erschöpfung nur bei den Frauen zu. Es wurden keine weiteren signifikanten geschlechtsspezifischen Veränderungen beobachtet.

Schlussfolgerung

Die Ergebnisse weisen auf ungünstigere Arbeitsbedingungen bei Erwerbstätigkeit nach Renteneintritt für Frauen hin. Des Weiteren nahm das Wohlbefinden bei der Arbeit über den Studienverlauf bei Frauen einen ungünstigeren Verlauf.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Bart Veltman and the Dutch temporary employment agency for workers above 65 years of age for their help with data collection.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Centre for Health and Society, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Moorenstr. 5, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Jeannette Weber & Andreas Müller

  2. Department of Human Resource Management, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Arnhem, The Netherlands

    Annet de Lange

  3. Faculty of economics and business administration, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Annet de Lange

  4. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway

    Annet de Lange

  5. Faculty of Psychology, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway

    Annet de Lange

  6. Institute of Psychology, Work and Organizational Psychology, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

    Andreas Müller

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  1. Jeannette Weber
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  3. Andreas Müller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeannette Weber.

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Conflict of interest

J. Weber, A. de Lange and A. Müller declare that they have no competing interests.

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1975 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

The supplement containing this article is not sponsored by industry.

Caption Electronic Supplementary Material

391_2018_1453_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Supplemental Material 1 Drop-out analysis for all participants, male participants and female participants with data from wave 1

Supplemental Material 2 Spearman correlation between study variables

Supplemental Material 3 Results of repeated measures ANCOVA

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Weber, J., de Lange, A. & Müller, A. Gender differences in paid employment after retirement. Z Gerontol Geriat 52 (Suppl 1), 32–39 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-018-1453-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-018-1453-1

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