Work at older ages in Japan: variation by gender and employment status.
OBJECTIVE
This study describes the correlates of labor force participation among Japanese men and women aged 60-85 and examines differences by gender and employment status.


METHODS
Using four waves of data collected from a national sample of older Japanese between 1990 and 1999, we estimate multinomial logistic regression models for three measures of labor force participation (current labor force status, labor force exit, and labor force re-entry) as a function of individual and family characteristics measured 3 years earlier.


RESULTS
Labor force participation is significantly associated with socioeconomic status, longest occupation, and family structure. The strength and nature of these relationships differ markedly for men and women and for wage employment and self-employment.


CONCLUSIONS
The emphasis on life course experiences and work-family interdependence characterizing recent research on retirement in the United States is clearly relevant in Japan as well. To better understand later-life labor force participation in Japan, subsequent research should incorporate more direct measures of life course experiences and family relationships and attempt to make explicit cross-national comparisons of these relationships.
Raymo
James M
JM
Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 53706, USA. jraymo@ssc.wisc.edu
Liang
Jersey
J
Sugisawa
Hidehiro
H
Kobayashi
Erika
E
Sugihara
Yoko
Y
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors