The influence of family and professional lifecourse histories on economic activity among older French workers

Jim Ogg,Sylvie Renaut

doi:10.1017/s0144686x18001459

Abstract

AbstractThis paper examines associations between early and mid-lifecourse events with economic activity in later life. These lifecourse trajectories are in turn examined for their impact on the pathways of men and women to retirement, including whether these pathways are perceived by individuals as been chosen or imposed. Data are from the three waves (2005, 2008 and 2011) of the French version of the Gender and Generations survey and comprise a sub-sample of 2,016 respondents in the birth cohort 1941–1960 who participated in all three waves. The analysis is undertaken within a gender perspective and in the context of the (de)standardisation of the lifecourse. The results show that mid-life and later-life work history, job category, employment sector and economic activity are influenced by early lifecourse events for both men and for women. Different pathways to retirement are observed according to institutional factors that determine access to pension rights. Women whose family formation occurred early, together with women who had an absence of family events (partnership or childlessness), were much more likely to be economically active in later life than men with the same characteristics. The results suggest that institutionalised (standardised) lifecourse patterns exist simultaneously with individualised (destandardised) patterns.

Highlights

In this paper, we investigate the relation between early, mid-lifecourse and later-life events and economic activity, and pathways to retirement among the birth cohort 1941–1960 of French men and women
The timing of the five events was more bunched for women than for men, meaning that the five lifecourse events occurred in quicker succession for women than for men
The results show an association between early and midlifecourse events on economic activity in later life, with a late entry into adulthood being the most significant pathway influencing the maintenance of economic activity

Summary

Introduction

We investigate the relation between early, mid-lifecourse and later-life events and economic activity, and pathways to retirement among the birth cohort 1941–1960 of French men and women. Ageing & Society 2243 last two centuries, of an institutional program regulating one’s movement through life both in terms of a sequence of positions and in terms of a set of biographical orientations by which to organise one’s experiences and plans’ (Kohli, 2007: 255) and it can be summarised as the ‘standardisation of the lifecourse’ According to this paradigm, exit from the labour market in later life is largely determined by institutional measures relating to retirement rules and regulations, such as the minimum statutory age for retirement, and the duration of pension contributions required to receive a full pension. In contrast to the standardisation of the lifecourse, the second trend can be broadly defined as the dominance of individual and differentiated trajectories In this paradigm, economic activity and withdrawal from the labour market in later life is no longer a uniform lifecourse event occurring at a fixed point in time and in accordance with a single institutional mechanism that defines ‘retirement’. The concept of retirement becomes distorted, thereby changing patterns of economic activity in later life

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Results

Conclusion