collar job, less likely to have employer-provided health insurance or a spouse in the labor

force, more likely to be uninsured or unmarried, and have less household net worth and

income. Pension wealth and total years worked represent two features that African

American women actually fare better on than White women.

 This study extends upon Belgrave's (1988) study in several key respects. First, the

use of a nationally representative sample makes national inferences possible. Second, this

study distinguishes between types of non-participation (e.g. retirement and disability),

revealing striking racial disparities that would have been masked by relying on labor

force participation rates. Third, rather than relying solely on cross-sectional data, this

study uses longitudinal data to explore women's dynamic labor force exit patterns.

Further, the present study includes measures of a wide array of life course circumstances,

instead of relying solely on temporally proximate "pull" factors.

 Findings from the present study are suggestive of both similarities and differences

in race-labor force exit behavior relationship among women and men. Among women,

African Americans appear to have higher risks than Whites of exiting the labor force via

work disability as a result their poorer health, a findings similar to that among men. In the

case of retirement, however, whereas African American women have lower rates than

White women, African American males have higher rates of retirement, relative to White

men (Hayward et al., 1996). This is likely a result of greater racial similarities in labor

force histories among women than men.

 The literature on women's retirement more generally, as well as race differences,

may benefit from future studies that explore the impact of marital transitions and spousal

labor force transitions on labor force exit behavior. Additionally, there is a dearth of work