Churn in later adulthood? A gendered life course approach using short-term panel data from the US Current Population Survey.

While existing research documents heterogeneous later life course employment/retirement pathways, we know little about whether the multiple short-term shifts ('churn') documented among young (20-something) adults around transitions into the labour force also characterise the experiences of significant numbers of adults in their 50s, 60s and early 70s around the transitions out of the workforce. We draw on an intersectional, gendered life course theoretical framing and exploit 16-month panel components of the US Current Population Survey from 1998 through 2018 to examine the incidence and timing of churn in the later work course, and whether it differs at the intersections of gender and age/life stage, together with other social locations. Our longitudinal study reveals, first, that while women and men in later adulthood report similar levels of churn (24 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively) its timing is gendered, with women more apt to encounter churn in their 50s, while at ages 67-74 men's churn rates outstrip women's. Second, churn is heterogeneous, differing greatly by and within gender and age/life stage in intersection with race/ethnicity, health, education and baseline employment status. Third, churn appears to be more constraint-driven during ages 50-59 and more voluntary during ages 60-74. Our findings reveal variable volatility in the later work course, underscoring the importance of examining gender and other structural locations influencing the likelihood and timing of multiple employment shifts by older US adults at different ages/life stages.