Life Course Employment Patterns and Resilient Adult-Stage Life Courses in Selected European Countries

Anita Abramowska-Kmon, SGH Warsaw School of Economics
Milena Chelchowska, SGH Warsaw School of Economics
Martin Piotrowski, University of Oklahoma
Pawel A. Strzelecki, SGH Warsaw School of Economics

Employment history over the life course plays an important role in shaping resilience in later life, and while employment tends to promote resilience, the relationship is complex and influenced by various individual and societal factors. The main aim of this paper is therefore to present the results of the analysis of the determinants of belonging to different groups describing resilience, taking into account both individual characteristics and employment history. We used the 9th wave of the SHARE survey for 28 European countries. The variable describing resilience was assessed on the basis of variables describing subjective well-being, health status and financial situation using Latent Class Models, while employment history was assessed using Event Sequence Analysis. Finally, multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate resilience class membership with respect to various exogenous variables. Our results suggest that employment histories characterised by part-time work or high non-employment rates increase the probability of being in a class with a worse profile compared to class 1. Except for class 2, this is also true for full-time work histories with many gaps. Other control variables confirm the results of the previous research.

Keywords: Longitudinal studies , Older Adults and Intergenerational Relations, Population Ageing, Econometrics

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