What determines the healthy working years after the age of 50?

“Women and lower educated people have a shorter healthyworking life expectancy and work longer in poor health than men and higher educated individuals”

 

What is the focus of the paper?

This paper investigates the number of years Dutch workers can spend both healthy and in work: the healthy working life expectancy (HWLE). We compare men, women and various educational levels and examine how health behaviors (physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol consumption) are associated with healthy working life expectancy.

 

What are the key findings?

  • After their fiftieth birthday, Dutch workers spend, on average, 12.7 years working in good health, which equals about 85 percent of their remaining working life. On average they spent 1.2 years unhealthy at work and 1.1 out of paid work.
  • Women and people with lower education have a shorter HWLE than men and higher educated groups. The disadvantage is largest for women with low education, and decreases at higher education levels.
  • Smoking was linked to a shorter healthy life expectancy, while both smoking and physical inactivity were associated with working longer in poor health.
  • For alcohol consumption we found a small, counter-intuitive association which requires careful interpretation: more alcohol consumption (≥ 4 days per week) among the general population, but specifically among women, goes with a slightly higher HWLE.

 

What are the implications?

  • Policies that prolong healthy working life, include health promotion and support employees in poor health can expand workforce participation and diminish the loss of income prior to retirement. Preventative and tailor-made interventions are promising, specifically focusing on women and lower-educated groups.
  • The findings can help pension funds to better assess participants’ risk capacity by considering health indicators, alongside labor participation and distinguishing differences between sociodemographic groups. When HWLE is shorter (and labor market uncertainty is high), pension funds may choose a more conservative
    investment strategy.