This paper addresses the uneven employment effects on older Americans (aged 50–75) of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on monthly Current Population Survey data from January through December 2020, we take an intersectional and life course approach to study the labor market effects of COVID-19 on older Americans. First, we chart monthly labor force states throughout 2020 for older adult subgroups defined by age, gender, and race/ethnicity. We then examine transitions out of and into work from one month to the next. We find gendered age-graded declines in employment, increases in unemployment, and increases in the proportions of people in their 50s reporting they are not in the labor force for other reasons (NILF-other), most dramatically for Asian and Hispanic women. There is little change in age-graded retirement from before to during the pandemic, regardless of gender or race/ethnicity, though there are education-level effects, with those without a college degree more likely to retire in the face of COVID-19. White men with a college degree are the most apt to retain their work engagement.

本文讨论了 COVID-19 大流行对美国老年人（50-75 岁）的就业不均衡影响。利用从 2020 年 1 月到 2020 年 12 月的月度当前人口调查数据，我们采用交叉和生命历程的方法来研究 COVID-19 对美国老年人的劳动力市场影响。首先，我们绘制了按年龄、性别和种族/民族定义的老年人亚组在整个 2020 年的月度劳动力状态。然后，我们检查从一个月到下一个月的工作过渡。我们发现按性别划分的就业率下降，失业率上升，以及 50 多岁的人报告由于其他原因（NILF-其他）而没有加入劳动力大军的比例增加，其中亚裔和西班牙裔女性最为显着。从大流行之前到大流行期间，年龄分级退休几乎没有变化，无论性别或种族/民族如何，尽管存在教育水平的影响，但那些没有大学学位的人更有可能在面对 COVID-19 时退休。拥有大学学位的白人男性最容易保持工作投入。