Wealth accumulation over the life course. The role of disadvantages across the employment history

In this study wealth is employed as an often neglected but highly stratified well-being measure in sociology. I relate the employment history and especially the accumulating disadvantages like nonemployment and lower occupations to wealth in old age. In particular, I am interested in determining whether an adverse employment history prevents wealth accumulation and which factors influence wealth accumulation across the life course. I use comparative data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement and combine it with the retrospective panel SHARELIFE to retrieve information about the complete employment history. The relevance of wealth varies significantly across households and in the wider national context. Hence, a contextual perspective is included to account for the difference in wealth rates and wealth inequality in the European countries. The results show that cumulative nonemployment and employment in lower occupations has significant disadvantages for wealth accumulation in old age. However, large differences for men and women persist. Particularly, the household composition and household factors are decisive in the effectuality of these disadvantages. The relation of life course employment and especially disadvantages to accumulated wealth in old aged is stronger in conservative countries than in other welfare regimes.