Current marital status is central to understanding labor force behavior, especially in

later life. Unmarried women are economically disadvantaged compared to married

women and thus may delay retirement in order to accumulate wealth for later

consumption during the retirement years. Also, among married women, it is important to

differentiate between women with spouses in the labor force and women with spouses not

in the labor force because spouses tend to exit the labor force at around the same time as

one another (Henretta and O'Rand, 1983; Henretta, O'Rand and Chan, 1993). Thus, 3

dummy variables are included to capture current marital status: (1) not married

(divorced, widowed, and never married), (2) Married and spouse is in the labor force,

and (3) Married and spouse is not in the labor force. Dependent children are also likely

to impact labor force participation (Pienta et al., 1994) because children tend to place

economic burdens on the household and thus women with a child under 21 may work

longer in order to accrue sufficient savings for retirement and money needed to continue

supporting a dependent child. Number of household residents may also influence

household economic resources and labor force exit behavior.

 Measurement of Midlife Work Characteristics

 Wages2 (average salary and or commission per week) are likely to influence labor

force exit decisions. Workers with high wages may be less inclined to sacrifice the

opportunity cost of forgoing a steady stream of income for retirement. As a proxy for

labor market attachment, women's baseline self-report of their average number of hours

worked per week and total years ever worked are included. Women with greater work

hours and years worked over the life course may continue to have a stronger labor market

attachment into later midlife. On the other hand, women with substantial labor force

experience over the life course may have greater economic resources to draw on for