Pursuit of Life by Gender in Quebec: The Effect of the Quality of Employment and Personal Circumstances
The current discourse about the many retirements expected mainly deals with the extension of the working life. However, nothing indicates that this solution occurs identically among male and female workers in Quebec. In this paper, we show that the career paths of women and men aged 50 years and over are very different. Thus, the female workers intend to leave much earlier in the labor market than their male counterparts and less return later even if their financial conditions remain worse. The quality of their job (psychological and physical conditions of work) as well as their personal situation (health) largely explain these gender differences. For men, income appears to be the most important factor in their intentions towards retirement and the pursuit of an active life.