Cumulative Disadvantage in Employment

Abstract

AbstractTheories on the accumulative nature of disadvantage across the life course suggest that disability during the working years contributes to future disadvantage into old age. This chapter reviews theories of cumulative dis/advantage and illustrates their application using Panel Study of Income Dynamics data to examine wealth accumulation associated with longitudinal patterns of work disability across the life course beginning in early adulthood. The accumulation of economic disadvantage across the life course associated with disability can be seen in findings related to the timing and duration of work disability and its relationship with accumulated wealth approaching retirement. For example, among those with early-onset work disability, over half were in the bottom wealth quartile in their mid-60s, compared to one-fifth of those who never experienced a work disability. Individuals experiencing disability on and off over the work life course were almost three times more likely than the never work disabled to have wealth in the bottom wealth quartile, and those who never experienced a work disability were more likely to be in the top wealth quartile.