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Over the past decades population aging put retirement policies at the center of political debate and academic research. Women are at a higher risk of poverty in retirement across advanced societies and therefore a key target group for social policy. Yet, retirement research has largely concentrated on how employment histories determine labor market exit of men. In a comparison of West Germany and the United Kingdom this thesis addresses how gender inequality in old age emerges over the life course and which role institutions play in this process. Two main arguments are put forward. To advance our understanding of gender inequality in retirement it is necessary to (1) develop alternative retirement measures beyond labor force exit, and (2) include family events over the life course as predictors of retirement outcomes. Based on the conceptual foundation of differential life course sociology alternative measures of retirement are proposed and empirically explored with recent advances in sequence analysis. Divorce and child care periods are included as determinants of retirement outcomes in event history analysis. Based on household panel data, results from both methodological approaches underline the power of pension institutions in shaping retirement processes and pension consequences of family events. The thesis concludes that changing family arrangements call for a shift in the design of pension systems to compensate not only full employment histories of male breadwinners, but diversified work life histories of men and women. ; Das Thema Verrentung ist mit fortschreitender Bevölkerungsalterung immer mehr in das Zentrum politischer und akademischer Debatten gerückt. Frauen sind in praktisch allen fortgeschrittenen Gesellschaften einem höheren Armutsrisiko im Alter ausgesetzt und deshalb eine zentrale Zielgruppe für die Sozialpolitik. Dennoch beschränken sich wissenschaftliche Analysen zur Rententhematik bisher überwiegend darauf, wie Berufsverläufe den Arbeitsmarktaustritt von Männern beeinflussen. Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht im Vergleich von Westdeutschland und Grossbritanien, wie Ungleichheit zwischen den Geschlechtern im Alter über den Lebenslauf entsteht und welche Rolle Wohlfahrtsstaatsinstitutionen dabei spielen. Die Untersuchung basiert auf zwei zentralen Argumenten: Um geschlechtsspezifische Ungleichheit im Alter besser zu verstehen, ist es notwendig: (1) über das Kriterium des Arbeitsmarktaustritts hinaus neue Konzepte der Verrentung zu entwickeln und (2) Familienereignisse über den Lebenslauf als Determinanten der Verrentung mit einzubeziehen. Im Rahmen einer differentiellen Lebenslaufsoziologie entwickelt die vorliegende Arbeit ein alternatives Konzept von Verrentung als Prozess, welches empirisch mittels neuer Entwicklungen der Sequenzanalyse untersucht wird. Scheidung und Kindererziehungszeiten als Determinanten der Verrentung werden mittels Ereignisdatenanalyse untersucht. Die Ergebnisse beider methodischer Ansätze unterstreichen den Einfluss von Wohlfahrtsstaatsinstitutionen auf die Beziehung zwischen Familienbiographien und Verrentungsprozessen. Als Schlussfolgerung ergibt sich, dass veränderte Familienstrukturen neue Renteninstitutionen erfordern, die nicht nur kontinuierliche Erwerbsverläufe von Männern, sondern diverse Erwerbs- und Familienbiographien von Frauen und Männern absichern.

In the context of population aging and growing numbers of older workers and older couples, this study examines how educational assortative mating earlier in life is associated with the division of paid work later in life between partners of opposite-sex couples in the Netherlands. We observe 20 years of linked partners' employment trajectories, when the male partners were aged 45–65. This longitudinal and dyadic perspective enables us to examine long-term patterns in couples' division of paid work, including the timing of retirement, beyond snapshots of the division of paid work between partners at specific ages. We consider labor supply and labor demand factors for older workers in connection to cumulative (dis)advantage over the life course and argue that educational assortative mating earlier in life reinforces social inequality between couples later in life. We innovatively apply multichannel sequence and cluster analysis using retrospective data from four waves of the Family Survey Dutch Population (FSDP) for the 1916–1957 birth cohorts. Findings support a typology of five groups of older couples: 1) high-status dual-earners, 2) low-status dual-earners, 3) high-status male breadwinners, 4) low-status male breadwinners and 5) dual-jobless/disabled couples. The male breadwinner clusters are more prevalent overall (53%), but even among these relatively old birth cohorts, a substantial share of couples is in a long-term, stable dual-earner arrangement later in life (41%). The majority of dual-earner couples consists of two high-status earners (24%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis supports that educational assortative mating earlier in life is associated with a polarization into resource-rich high-status dual-earners and resource-poor low-status male breadwinner couples later in life. We conclude that educational assortative mating sets in processes of cumulative (dis)advantage over the life course that leave an enduring imprint on couples' late-life employment trajectories.

[Background:] Childlessness has increased in many European countries. Partnerships and parenthood are obviously closely related, but there is relatively little knowledge on how childlessness is linked to contemporary union dynamics that involve high rates of separation and unmarried cohabitation. [Objective:] To situate (biological) childlessness in longitudinal dynamics of union formation and stability, we take a life-course approach to union trajectories that consist of states entered via the formation and dissolution of cohabitations and marriages. Concretely, we identify groups of similar union trajectories of individuals between the ages of 18 and 39 who are childless at age 42. [Methods: We analyse register data on Finnish men and women born in 1969 and 1970 (childless N=3,241) with sequence, cluster, and multinomial logistic regression methods. [Results:] Four clusters of typical union trajectories were identified among the childless and assigned these labels: 1) Never Partnered (45%), characterized by never having entered a coresidential partnership, or just having entered a cohabitation near age 40; 2) Briefly Cohabited (25%), characterized by mostly living single after a brief cohabitation spell; 3) Cohabitors, Often Serial (19%), marked by typically discontinuous cohabitation; and 4) Married (11%). The Never-Partnered cluster is male-dominated. Men with a rural background and less-educated men and women are overrepresented among the Never-Partnered childless. [Conclusions:] For the great majority of the childless in our study cohorts, union trajectories are marked by either the (almost) complete absence of coresidential unions or fragmentary cohabitation histories. [Contribution:] The study contributes to the literature by showing that union histories, including never partnering as well as cohabitation instability, are key for understanding contemporary childlessness.

Whether employment life courses have become more unstable and complex across the twentieth century has been a prominent topic in academic and public debate. Yet, empirical evidence on longer-term employment trajectories and how they changed across cohorts beyond single-country analyses is sparse. In this paper, we propose a new methodological approach that includes measures developed in sequence analysis to summarize complexity in employment trajectories in a cross-classified multilevel model by cohort and country. This allows us to quantify and describe change in the complexity of employment trajectories across cohorts relative to variation across fourteen European countries. We use SHARELIFE data to analyze employment trajectories from age 15 to 45 for men and women born between 1918 and 1963. For these birth cohorts, findings show that change across cohorts is negligibly small, compared with a sizeable variation of complexity in employment trajectories across countries. Further, based on theoretical assumptions derived from the varieties of capitalism literature, we demonstrate that the cross-national variation in employment complexity can, in part, be accounted for by employment protection legislation and unemployment protection measured as wage replacement rates. We conclude that in accordance with other studies, our findings contradict the commonly held belief that employment trajectories have become much more unstable across the second half of the twentieth century. More generally, the proposed methodological approach is also promising to analyze complexity in life course trajectories in other areas of application.

Whether employment life courses have become more unstable and complex across the twentieth century has been a prominent topic in academic and public debate. Yet, empirical evidence on longer-term employment trajectories and how they changed across cohorts beyond single-country analyses is sparse. In this paper, we propose a new methodological approach that includes measures developed in sequence analysis to summarize complexity in employment trajectories in a cross-classified multilevel model by cohort and country. This allows us to quantify and describe change in the complexity of employment trajectories across cohorts relative to variation across fourteen European countries. We use SHARELIFE data to analyze employment trajectories from age 15 to 45 for men and women born between 1918 and 1963. For these birth cohorts, findings show that change across cohorts is negligibly small, compared with a sizeable variation of complexity in employment trajectories across countries. Further, based on theoretical assumptions derived from the varieties of capitalism literature, we demonstrate that the cross-national variation in employment complexity can, in part, be accounted for by employment protection legislation and unemployment protection measured as wage replacement rates. We conclude that in accordance with other studies, our findings contradict the commonly held belief that employment trajectories have become much more unstable across the second half of the twentieth century. More generally, the proposed methodological approach is also promising to analyze complexity in life course trajectories in other areas of application.

How are gendered work-family life courses associated with financial well-being in retirement? In this article we compare the cohorts born 1920-1950 in West Germany and Switzerland, whose adult life courses are characterized by similar strong male-breadwinner contexts in both countries. The countries differ in that Switzerland represented a liberal pension system, whereas Germany represented a corporatist protective pension system when these cohorts retired. We therefore assess how gendered work-family life courses that developed in similar male-breadwinner contexts are related to financial well-being in retirement in different pension systems. Using data from the SHARELIFE survey we conduct multichannel sequence analysis and cluster analysis to identify groups of typical work-family life courses from ages 20 to 59. Regression models estimate how these groups are associated with the individual pension income and household income in retirement. Results show that women who combined motherhood with part time work and extended periods out of the labour force have even lower individual pension income in Switzerland compared to their German peers. This relative disadvantage partly extends to lower household income in retirement. Findings support that male breadwinner policies earlier in life combined with liberal pension policies later in life, as in Switzerland, intensify pension penalties for typical female work-family life courses of early motherhood and weak labour force attachment. We conclude that life course sensitive social policies should harmonize regulations, which are in effect earlier in life with policies later in life for specific birth cohorts.

Visualization is a potentially powerful tool for exploration and complexity reduction of categorical sequence data. This article discusses currently available sequence visualization against established criteria for graphical excellence in the visual display of quantitative information. Existing sequence graphs fall into two groups: They either represent categorical sequences or summarize them. The authors propose relative frequency sequence plots as an informative way of graphing sequence data and as a bridge between data representation graphs and data summarization graphs. The efficacy of the proposed plot is assessed by the R2and the F statistics. The applicability of the proposed graphs is demonstrated using data from the German Life History Study on women's family formation.

AbstractDespite Egypt's economic growth and educational expansion, gender inequalities and a lack of economic opportunities for young adults persist. Existing studies on social change in Egypt often rely on aggregate trend indicators or focus on isolated point‐in‐time work or family outcomes. This study adopts a life course perspective to (1) trace cohort changes in work‐family life courses for individuals born between 1956 and 1988 (N = 19,970) from 1965 to 2018, (2) assess gender inequality trends in life courses across cohorts, and (3) link different life course patterns to aggregate development indicators. Using retrospective data from the Egyptian Labor Market Panel, multichannel sequence and cluster analyses identify ten typical life course profiles that can be divided into: a state‐structured life course; and various manifestations of family‐ and market‐structured life courses. The economically secure state‐structured life course declined in favor of rising market‐structured and family‐structured life courses. Gender inequality in employment increased across cohorts. GDP growth was associated with economically insecure market‐structured life courses for men and family‐structured life courses of economic inactivity for women. Cohort change in life courses was most rapid in the transition period from authoritarian socialism to unregulated crony capitalism (1980–1990) when cohorts born in the 1970s reached adulthood.

AbstractHouseholds are prime locations of risk pooling and redistribution. Household constellations in terms of the number of earners and their occupations define households' capacity to cushion crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or rising inflation. The occupational structure and the sociodemographic composition of households continue to vary widely between the former East and West German regions. Against the background of rising levels of in-work poverty in recent years, we extend the prevalence and penalties framework as used in poverty research to two occupational risks that gained significance in post-COVID-19 labour markets. Our study addresses two questions: 1) How prevalent were household constellations in which the sole earner or both earners worked in an occupation that was both non-teleworkable and non-essential (NTNE) in East and West Germany in 2019? 2) Did the poverty penalty associated with the sole or both earners working in NTNE occupations differ in East and West Germany in 2019? The most recent available data from the German Microcensus (2019, N=179,755 households) is linked to new data collected on the teleworkability of occupations and occupations' classification as essential by German federal state decrees in the spring of 2020. Descriptive statistics and regression models show that the prevalence of household constellations where the sole earner or both earners worked in NTNE occupations was relatively similar across East and West Germany. In contrast to overall similar prevalence, in East Germany the poverty penalty associated with the sole or both earners working in NTNE occupations was substantially elevated. Controlling for known occupational disadvantages, including low education, fixed-term contracts, shift work and the lack of leadership responsibilities narrowed but did not eliminate the sizeable gap in poverty penalties associated with NTNE occupations between East and West Germany.

Background: Physical and mental health are important markers of quality of life. Little is known about how they unfold in tandem in the last years of life. Objective: We take a life-course perspective to identify typical joint trajectories of functional limitations and depression in the last eight years before death. Our objective is to assess whether there is only a linear association between functional limitations and depression or if we also find groups marked by high and increasing functional limitations but low depression, and vice versa. Methods: Data from 10 waves of the Health and Retirement Study that cover US Americans who died between 2003-2014 are analyzed with sequence, cluster, and multinomial logistic regression methods. Results: Results show five typical trajectories of joint functional limitations and depression. Corroborating previous findings, three groups support a linear positive relationship between functional limitations and depression. Beyond previous research, we find two resilient groups of medium and high functional limitations combined with stable low depression. The five groups are highly stratified by social status, gender, marital status, and subjective life expectancy reported at the beginning of the trajectories. Conclusions: Physical and mental health trajectories at the end of life are not only linearly associated. Medium and high functional limitations go along with a polarized pattern of either stable high or stable low depression. Contribution: The nonlinear relationship between functional limitations and depression in the last years of life represented by the 'Resilient' groups of medium and high functional limitations with low depression have gone largely unnoticed in previous research and should be investigated in future studies.

How do men and women's family life courses differ? Are gender differences in family life courses greater at higher or lower educational levels? And how does the intersection of gender, education and family life courses vary across different macro-structural contexts? This paper addresses these questions comparing East and West Germany during the German division (1961-1990). We thereby compare a strong male breadwinner model in a social market economy in West Germany and a universal breadwinner model in a state socialist system in the East. The analysis uses data from the German National Education Panel (NEPS) and employs two new sequence analysis tools: sequence discrepancy analysis and the implicative statistic for analyzing sequences of typical states. These tools enable us to scrutinize the degree, content, and timing of differences in family trajectories between men and women of different educational levels in the two sub-societies. In line with our expectations, family life courses were more de-standardized in the West compared to the East, and this occurred to the same extent for men and women in both contexts. While we find moderate gender differences in family life courses across all educational groups in the strong male breadwinner context in West Germany, for East Germany gender differences were significant among the medium and lower educated, but not among the highly educated. These findings underline the fact that the intersection of gender and education for family life courses is highly context-specific. They further suggest that different patterns of assortative mating play a key role for gender differences in family life courses. We demonstrate the added value of sequence discrepancy analysis and the implicative statistic to illuminate differences in longitudinal life courses between men and women or other social groups.

In view of changing job mobility patterns in Europe, the impact of job mobility on job satisfaction is gaining importance, yet has received little attention. This article analyses 23 European countries to address two questions: (1) how do different types of job mobility affect job satisfaction, and (2) do welfare state regimes alter the relationship between job mobility and job satisfaction? Theoretically the study integrates economic and sociological approaches to job satisfaction with insights from the psychology of well-being. The findings show that job mobility differentially affects job satisfaction domains. External upward mobility is decisive to enhance satisfaction with objective working conditions and work–life balance, while internal mobility is pivotal for satisfaction with future career prospects. The experience of unemployment lowers all job satisfaction domains even after re-employment. The article's findings on welfare regimes indicate that social policies interact with country differences in workforce composition, such as the overall prevalence of unemployment, to determine job satisfaction.