Examining Bridge Employment From a Self-employment Perspective—Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study

Abstract

This study examines bridge employment decision-making from a self-employment perspective using three prominent retirement theories, the life course perspective, continuity theory and role theory. Focusing on self-employment extends the current theoretical understanding of bridge employment and offers interesting implications for retirement policymaking. Specifically, using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (n = 2080), we conducted multinomial regression analysis to examine who were more/less likely to fully retire, enter bridge employment in the wage-and-salary form, or enter bridge employment in the self-employment form. Furthermore, we examined the role of preretirement self-employment status, to provide us with more information on the very much understudied retirement process of entrepreneurs and self-employed workforce. Our findings indicated that self-employment can be considered as an independent form of bridge employment, apart from bridge employment in wage-and-salary jobs. Furthermore, the decision to enter different forms of bridge employment, including self-employment, may stem from a variety of antecedents. Practical implications of this study are also discussed.

Does Participation in Local Non-agricultural Employment Improve the Mental Health of Elderly Adults in Rural Areas? Evidence From China

“…There is an argument that, elderly employees mostly have less updated skills and are slow to learn new things than young workers. Hence it is more attractive for elderly adults retiring to venture into self-employment instead of waged employment ( 48 ). The elderly adults who remain in the labor market, particularly the non-agricultural employment, often feel more comfortable when they work as self-employed.…”

“…As corroborated by previous studies, self-employed elderly adults enjoy more life satisfaction than waged work after reaching their retirement age ( 49 ). Self-employment offers more motivation for elderly adults and increases their life satisfaction, well-being, and mental health ( 48 ). Therefore, the mental health of the rural elderly adults self-employed in non-agricultural activities may be greater than that of the employed group.…”

Constrained Agency in Later Working Lives: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…The final article of this Special Issue focuses on the postretirement period. In the article Von Bonsdorff, Zhan, Song, and Wang (2017) examine predictors of decisions to transition into full retirement, bridge employment in self-employment, and bridge employment in wageand-salary employment. Moreover, given that the retirement processes of entrepreneurs are understudied, attention is paid to preretirement employment form (entrepreneur vs. wage-and-salary employee) as well.…”

Older workers: Past, present and future

“…Over the past two decades, there has been intensified research and policy attention on older people (50+ years of age) becoming entrepreneurs for the first time (Von Bonsdorff et al, 2017). Yet, research in this area remains sparse (Wang and Shi, 2014; Zolin, 2015).…”