abstract: 'Policies to extend working life (EWL) assume homogeneous workers face

  similar choices about working longer: this may be difficult for women,

  workers in physically onerous jobs or in low-paid precarious employment.

  Work-life trajectories are gendered; women interrupt employment and

  pension-building to provide care. There is occupational variation in

  capacities to prolong working lives: physically demanding jobs cause

  work-related health deficits. The precariously employed cannot

  contribute regularly to pensions and may face age discrimination. This

  research provides an inter-occupational and cross-national dimension to

  EWL research, comparing women teachers and health-care workers in the

  United States of America (USA) and Republic of Ireland. It documents

  intra-cohort distinctions that emerge among women when considering

  educational opportunities and occupational tracks expressed in

  lifecourse trajectories and accumulated capacities for extended work.

  Analysis draws on interview data from ten teachers and ten health-care

  workers in each country, comparing the implications of EWL policies for

  women workers: in precarious versus secure occupations and occupations

  with different physical demands. It reveals work-life trajectories

  leading to poorer financial and health outcomes for older health-care

  workers, especially in the USA. Most women (regardless of occupation or

  country) opposed extending working life, with concerns ranging from

  health status and ability to work to the desire to have healthy years in

  retirement. The most important distinctions are between the occupational

  categories considered, rather than cross-national differences.

  Implications for national and work-place policy and research are

  considered.'
affiliation: 'Leime, AN (Corresponding Author), Natl Univ Ireland, Irish Ctr Social
  Gerontol, Galway, Ireland.

  Leime, A. Ni, Natl Univ Ireland, Irish Ctr Social Gerontol, Galway, Ireland.

  Street, Debra, SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY USA.'
article-number: PII S0144686X18000508
author: Leime, A. Ni and Street, Debra
author-email: aine.nileime@nuigalway.ie
author_list:
- family: Leime
  given: A. Ni
- family: Street
  given: Debra
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1017/S0144686X18000508
eissn: 1469-1779
files: []
issn: 0144-686X
journal: AGEING \& SOCIETY
keywords: 'extended working life; women; home health-care workers; teachers; older

  workers; precarious employment; secure jobs; lifecourse perspective'
keywords-plus: HEALTH; CARE; INEQUALITIES; PATHWAYS; GENDER; UK
language: English
month: OCT
number: '10'
number-of-cited-references: '38'
pages: 2194-2218
papis_id: 90be49bfc77b9dfd8163ce4d36f7bfd6
ref: Leime2019workinglater
researcherid-numbers: Ni Leime, Aine/IUO-4169-2023
times-cited: '5'
title: 'Working later in the USA and Ireland: implications for precariously and securely
  employed women'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000482972400003
usage-count-last-180-days: '2'
usage-count-since-2013: '12'
volume: '39'
web-of-science-categories: Gerontology
year: '2019'