Gender, Disabilities, and Employment in the Health and Retirement Study

This paper examines disabilities of older women and men and analyzes gender differences in the effect of disabilities on labor force participation using information on men and women aged 51-61 from the early release of the first wave of the Health and Retirement Survey. Our results demonstrate the importance of using multiple measures of disabilities (we use work limitations, functional limitations, and specific health impairments) to document gender differences and understand the connections between disabilities and work. We find that men and women have different rates of disability, and that both men and women working in occupations with greater physical requirements exhibit higher rates of disabilities than other workers. We also find that measures of functional limitations and health impairments both have significant negative effects on labor force participation. The effects of disabilities on labor force participation are larger for men and single women than for married women.