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Race Differences in Labor Force Attachment and Disability Status

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Author Info
John Bound
Michael Schoenbaum
Timothy Waidmann

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Abstract

We use the first wave of the Health and Retirement Survey to study the effect of health on the labor force activity of Black and White men and women in their 50s. The evidence we present confirms the notion that health is an extremely important determinant of early labor force exit. Our estimates suggest that health differences between Blacks and Whites can account for most of the racial gap in labor force attachment for men. For women, where participation rates are comparable, our estimates imply that Black women would be substantially more likely to work than White women were it not for the marked health differences. We also find for both men and women that poor health has a substantially larger effect on labor force behavior for Blacks. The evidence suggests that these differences result from Black/White differences in access to the resources necessary to retire.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 5536.

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Date of creation: Apr 1996
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5536

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination
J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Parsons, Donald O, 1980. "Racial Trends in Male Labor Force Participation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 911-20, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. James P. Smith, 2004. "Racial and Ethnic Differences in Wealth in the Health and Retirement Study," Labor and Demography 0408011, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. John Bound & Michael Schoenbaum & Timothy Waidmann, 1995. "Race and Education Differences in Disability Status and Labor Force Attachment," NBER Working Papers 5159, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Carole Green, 2005. "Race, Ethnicity, and Social Security Retirement Age in the us," Feminist Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 117-143, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Richard Johnson, 2001. "Effects of old-age insurance on female retirement : evidence from cross-country time-series data," Research Working Paper RWP 01-08, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. [Downloadable!]
  3. Arline T. Geronimus, 1999. "Economic inequality and social differentials in mortality," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Sep, pages 23-36. [Downloadable!]
  4. Iskhakov, Fedor, 2008. "Dynamic Programming Model of Health and Retirement," Memorandum 03/2008, Oslo University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  5. Jorge González, 2008. "Commuting costs and labor force retirement," Working Papers. Serie AD 2008-19, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie). [Downloadable!]
  6. Lixin Cai & Guyonne Kalb, 2006. "Health status and labour force participation: evidence from Australia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(3), pages 241-261. [Downloadable!]
  7. John Bound & Michael Schoenbaum & Todd R. Stinebrickner & Timothy Waidmann, 1998. "The Dynamic Effects of Health on the Labor Force Transitions of Older Workers," NBER Working Papers 6777, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. John B. Williamson & Tay K. McNamara, 2002. "The Effect of Unplanned Changes in Marital and Disability Status: Interrupted Trajectories and Labor Force Participation," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College 2002-05, Center for Retirement Research. [Downloadable!]
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