Volume 30, Number 5 1995
Loprest, Pamela, Kalman Rupp, and Steven H. Sandell. 1995. "Gender, Disabilities, and Employment in the Health and Retirement Study." Journal of Human Resources 30(5):S293-S318.
This paper examines disabilities of older women and men and analyzes gender differences in the effect of disabilities on labor force participation using information on men and women aged 51-61 from the early releases of the first wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Our results demonstrate the importance of using multiple measures of disabilities (we use work limitations, functional limitations, and specific health impairments) to document gender differences and understand the connections between disabilities and work. We find that men and women have different rates of disability, and that both men and women working in occupations with greater physical requirements exhibit higher rates of disabilities than other workers. We also find that measures of functional limitations and health impairments both have significant negative effects on labor force participation. The effects of disabilities on labor force participation are larger for men and single women than for married women.
Pamela Loprest is an economist at the Urban Institute. Kalman Rupp and Steven Sandell are senior economists at the Social Security Administration. The authors would like to thank Keith Watson for research assistance and to acknowledge the useful comments made by Jack Feldman, John Bound, Alan Gustman, several anonymous referees, and participants at the HRS Early Results Workshop and a Seminar at the Urban Institute. The data used in this article are from the alpha release of the HRS.
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