Bridge jobs and retirement identities: Gendered life course approach to workforce exits among Early Boomers

Abstract Objectives The prevalence of bridge jobs, post-career work that bridges between career jobs and workforce exit, has obfuscated the isomorphic link between older adults’ role identities as retirees, named ‘retirement identities’, and their actual labor force status in ways that may well differ by gender. We examine how gender and Social Security eligibility/receipt are associated with retirement identities, and how these identities are associated with the timing of final workforce exit. Methods We track bridge job take-ups and workforce exits of Early Boomers (ages 51-56 in 2004, N = 910) in the Health and Retirement Study 2004-2020. We use multinomial logistic regression to examine predictors of retirement identities by gender, and event history analysis to examine the timing of workforce exit at the intersection of gender, retirement identity, and timing of bridge job take-up. Results Findings reveal that Social Security receipt is associated with men’s retirement identity formation, but not women’s. For both genders, ordered retirement identities, from ‘not retired’ to ‘completely retired,’ predict the timing of workforce exits. Women in bridge jobs do not always exit the workforce earlier than men when retirement identities are taken into account. Discussion This study underscores the changes in retirement as an institutionalized and gendered life course status passage, amplified by the increasing pivoting to bridge jobs, but with considerable variability in self-definitions of retirement status. Our evidence suggests that these identities serve as good signals of older workers’ work attachments and retirement plans, offering helpful insights for policymakers and employers.