%0 Journal Article %J Work Aging and Retirement %D 2022 %T Beyond Hours Worked and Dollars Earned: Multidimensional EQ, Retirement Trajectories and Health in Later Life %A Sarah B. Andrea %A Eisenberg-Guyot, Jerzy %A Vanessa M Oddo %A Peckham, Trevor %A Jacoby, Daniel %A Hajat, Anjum %K employment quality %K health %K Retirement %X The working lives of Americans have become less stable over the past several decades and older adults may be particularly vulnerable to these changes in employment quality (EQ). We aimed to develop a multidimensional indicator of EQ among older adults and identify EQ and retirement trajectories in the United States. Using longitudinal data on employment stability, material rewards, workers’ rights, working-time arrangements, unionization, and interpersonal power relations from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we used principal component analysis to construct an EQ score. Then, we used sequence analysis to identify late-career EQ trajectories (age 50–70 years; N = 11,958 respondents), overall and by sociodemographics (race, gender, educational attainment, marital status). We subsequently examined the sociodemographic, employment, and health profiles of these trajectories. We identified 10 EQ trajectories; the most prevalent trajectories were Minimally Attached and Wealthy (13.9%) and Good EQ to Well-off Retirement (13.7%), however, 42% of respondents were classified into suboptimal trajectories. Those in suboptimal trajectories were disproportionately women, people of color, and less-educated. Individuals in the Poor EQ to Delayed and Poor Retirement and Unattached and Poor clusters self-reported the greatest prevalence of poor health and depression, while individuals in the Wealthy Business Owners and Great EQ to Well-off Retirement clusters self-reported the lowest prevalence of poor health and depression at baseline. Trajectories were substantially constrained for women of color. Although our study demonstrates EQ is inequitably distributed in later life, labor organizing and policy change may afford opportunities to improve EQ and retirement among marginalized populations. %B Work Aging and Retirement %V 8 %P 51-73 %@ 2054-4650 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1093/workar/waab012 %0 Journal Article %J The Journals of Gerontology, Series B %D 2022 %T The inequitable burden of the COVID-19 pandemic among marginalized older workers in the United States: an intersectional approach. %A Andrea, Sarah B %A Eisenberg-Guyot, Jerzy %A Blaikie, Kieran J %A Owens, Shanise %A Oddo, Vanessa M %A Peckham, Trevor %A Minh, Anita %A Hajat, Anjum %K COVID-19 %K Employment %K Inequities %K Intersectionality %X

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the lives of people globally, widening longstanding inequities. We examined the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on employment conditions by race/ethnicity, gender, and educational attainment and the association between such conditions and well-being in older adults in the United States.

METHODS: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study respondents interviewed between May 2020 and May 2021 when they were ≥55 years of age, we examined intersectional patterns in COVID-19-related changes in employment conditions among 4,107 participants working for pay at the start of the pandemic. We also examined the compounding nature of changes in employment conditions and their association with financial hardship, food insecurity, and poor self-rated health.

RESULTS: Relative to non-Hispanic White men with greater than high school education (>HS), Black and Latinx men and women were more likely to experience job loss irrespective of education; among those who did not experience job loss, men with ≤HS reporting Black, Latinx, or "other" race were >90% less likely to transition to remote work. Participants who experienced job loss with decreased income or continued in-person employment with decreased income/shift changes had greater prevalence of financial hardship, food insecurity, and poor/fair self-rated health than others.

DISCUSSION: The impact of COVID-19 on employment conditions is inequitably patterned and is associated with financial hardship, food insecurity, and adverse health in older adults. Policies to improve employment quality and expand social insurance programs among this group are needed to reduce growing inequities in well-being later in life.

%B The Journals of Gerontology, Series B %V 77 %P 1928-1937 %G eng %N 10 %R 10.1093/geronb/gbac095 %0 Journal Article %J SSM - Population Health %D 2021 %T Intersectional trends in employment quality in older adults in the United States %A Sarah B. Andrea %A Eisenberg-Guyot, Jerzy %A Peckham, Trevor %A Vanessa M Oddo %A Hajat, Anjum %K employment quality %K Inequities %K Intersectionality %K Precarious employment %X Americans' working lives have become more precarious over the past several decades. Worsening employment quality has been linked to poorer physical and mental health and may disproportionately impact marginalized working populations. We examined differences in the quality and character of worker-employer relationships among older workers in the United States (US) across intersecting gender-racial/ethnic-educational subgroups. Using longitudinal data on employment stability, material rewards, workers’ rights, working-time arrangements, unionization, and interpersonal power relations from the Health and Retirement Study (1992–2016), we used principal components analysis to construct an employment quality (EQ) score. We estimated intersectional differences in EQ, overall and over time, using generalized estimating equations. Overall, EQ was greatest for white men with college degrees and poorest for Latinx women with < high school degrees. Over time, EQ tended to remain unchanged or slightly worsen across intersectional strata; the greatest EQ reduction was for Latinx women with college degrees, while the greatest improvement was for white women with high school degrees. There are enduring and growing inequities in EQ for older marginalized adults in the US, which may contribute to growing health inequities. %B SSM - Population Health %V 15 %P 100868 %@ 2352-8273 %G eng %R 10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100868 %0 Journal Article %J Occupational and Environmental Medicine %D 2021 %T S-207 Multidimensional employment quality, retirement trajectories and cardiometabolic health in later life in the US %A Sarah B. Andrea %A Eisenberg-Guyot, Jerzy %A Peckham, Trevor %A Vanessa M Oddo %A Hajat, Anjum %K cardiometabolic health %K employment quality %K Retirement %X Introduction The working lives of Americans have become less stable over the past several decades and older adults may be particularly vulnerable to these changes in employment quality (EQ).Objective We examined later-life multidimensional EQ and retirement trajectories of older Americans and the potential consequences worsening EQ may have for cardiometabolic health and health inequities in this population.Methods Using longitudinal data on employment stability, material rewards, workers’ rights, working-time arrangements, unionization, and interpersonal power relations from the Health and Retirement Study, we used principal component analysis to construct an EQ score. Then, we used sequence analysis to identify late-career EQ trajectories (age 50–70 years; N=11,958 respondents), overall and by race, gender, educational attainment, marital status. Finally, we estimated the association between trajectory-membership and post-sequence-analysis-period prevalence of poor cardiometabolic health.Results We identified ten EQ trajectories; the most prevalent trajectories were Minimally Attached and Wealthy (13.9%) and Good EQ to Good Retirement (13.7%), however, 42% of respondents were classified into suboptimal trajectories. Those in suboptimal trajectories were disproportionately women, Hispanic and/or Black, Indigenous and People of Color, and those with lower educational attainment. Moreover, those in suboptimal trajectories tended to report the worse cardiometabolic health. For example, the prevalence of hypertension was lowest for those in the Wealthy Business Owners trajectory and highest for Workers with Premature Mortality, followed by workers with Fair EQ and Good but Diminishing Wealth in Retirement.Conclusion EQ is inequitably distributed and may play a role in cardiometabolic health inequities in later life. %B Occupational and Environmental Medicine %V 78 %P A153–A154 %G eng %N Suppl 1 %R 10.1136/OEM-2021-EPI.420