Waiting on Retirement: Aging and Economic Insecurity in Low-Wage Work (Studies in Social Inequality) - Softcover

Gatta, Mary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1503607402 ISBN 13: 9781503607408

Publisher: Stanford University Press, 2018

Synopsis

America is witnessing a retirement crisis. As the labor market shifts to the gig economy and new strains restrict social security, the American Dream of secure retirement becomes further out of reach for up to half of the population. In Waiting on Retirement, Mary Gatta takes the case of restaurant workers to examine the experiences of low-wage workers who are middle-aged, aging, and past retirement age. She deftly explores the many factors shaping what it means to grow old in economic insecurity as her subjects face race- and gender-based inequities, health hazards associated with their work, and the bitter reality that the older they get the fewer professional opportunities are available to them. More importantly, Gatta demonstrates that these problems are pervasive, as more industries adopt the worst workplace practices of service work. In light of these trends, we must consider the devastating effects on already vulnerable Americans because, as Gatta contends, this crisis does not need to be inevitable. Taking as a model the small percentage of "good" restaurant jobs that exist, she ultimately offers incisive commentary on what can be done to stave off this bleak future.

About this title

About the Author

Mary Gatta is Associate Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York: Stella and Charles Guttman Community College.

Edition details

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1503607402
• ISBN 13: 9781503607408
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184