Job Demands and Job Sustainability Over the Life Course

Published: 2016
Project ID: UM16-08

Abstract

The first step to understanding the link between job demands and job sustainability for older workers is understanding if older workers face different physical and mental job demands and have different abilities and preferences for work than their younger selves. This project asks, How do individuals’ job demands change over the course of their working lives? Do older workers prefer different kinds of jobs than younger workers; for example, are they willing to accept earnings losses to transition to jobs that are less physically demanding or stressful? And to what extent are older workers less able than younger workers to perform certain kinds of jobs? To help answer these questions, we will build on MRRC project UM15-03 ‘Working Conditions over the Life Course’ which contributed to new data on working conditions and job preferences of a nationally representative panel of U.S. workers and nonworkers ages 20-70 in 2015.

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