This paper joins central concerns in the sociology of work and the sociology of aging. Age differences in work commitment and work values are examined, as well as their work and nonwork determinants, using data from 4,567 American and 3,735 Japanese employees. Our results show that older men are more committed to work than younger men in both Japan and the United States. This pattern also holds for American women, but there are no age differences in work commitment among Japanese zwmen. Moreover, there are greater age differences among the Japanese in the importance placed on good pay. This is consistent with the view that there has been greater cultural change in recent years in Japan than in the United States. The study of age differences in the meaning of work joins two important strands of sociological inquiry. People's work commitment and work values are important barometers of the quality of their work roles, a central concern in the sociology of work, while age is increasingly becoming recognized as one of the major bases of social stratification. Despite the complementarity of these concerns, most discussions of the meaning of work do not address the ways in which work attitudes differ at various points in the life course. Nor has research on aging and social change