The health effects of later-life employmentKatey Matthews

ESRC & MRC PhD Student (2010-2013)CCSR, University of Manchester

Tarani ChandolaSocial Statistics and CCSR, University of

Manchester

The proportion of older people in the workforce is increasing

Labour Force Survey

Who are older workers?

• Selected for their good health- “healthy workers effect”

• Heterogeneous occupations- consultants and cleaners

Most workers aged 65+ are working part-time

Labour Force Survey

Workers aged 65+ earn less than those in mid-life

Labour Force Survey

Although unemployment among those aged 65+ is low, most are long-term unemployed

Labour Force Survey

Is working at older ages good for your health?

Yes• “Use it or lose” it hypothesis• Financial security and independence• Social networks and relationships

No• Work stress• “Unfair”• Less physical activity

Prevalence of suboptimum self-rated health in relation to year of retirement: GAZEL men who retired at the statutory age of 55 years

High-risk profile=low grade, high demands, and low satisfaction.

Low-risk profile=high occupational grade, low physical and psychological demands, and high job satisfaction.

The health effects of later-life employment

Katey Matthews, PhD StudentCCSR, University of Manchester

Introduction• What are the health effects of working beyond

statutory retirement age in the UK?• Focus on various aspects of wellbeing

– Mental wellbeing– Cognitive function– Self-rated health– BMI

• Observational study using two datasets:– English Longitudinal Study of Ageing– Whitehall II Cohort Study

Background to the topic

• Systematic review provides varied findings:– 14 studies show a beneficial effect– 17 studies show a detrimental effect– 5 studies show no effect

• Meta-analysis also demonstrates high heterogeneity among results: no real conclusion can be drawn.

Meta-analysis: resultsDepressionPooled effect (d): -0.171I2 : 98.5%

Cohen's d-2 -1 0 1 2

Combined

McMunn 2009

McMunn 2009

Coursolle 2009

Wahrendorf 2008

Dave 2008

Villamil 2006

Villamil 2006

Butterworth 2006

Butterworth 2006

Gall 1997

Reitzes 1996

Self-rated healthPooled effect (d): -0.240I2 : 98.7%

Cohen's d-2 -1 00 1 2

Combined

Roberts 2010

Zucchelli 2007

Zucchelli 2007

Van Solinge 2007

Dave 2008

Gall 1997

Crowley 1986

Kremer 1985

Key problems so far…

• Inclusion of non-comparable study participants leads to heterogeneity within results:– Early retirees– Males and females– Differing levels of baseline wellbeing

• Subgroup analysis confirms this.• Need to account for these population differences

in order to discover whether or not later-life employment does have an effect on wellbeing.

Reducing heterogeneity• This study uses only comparable individuals:

– Only those over statutory retirement age– Only those who are definitely classed as ‘employed’ or

‘retired’– Only those who are employed until reaching retirement

age.• Propensity score matching used to find the effect of

employment beyond retirement age, as opposed to retirement.– “Do differences in wellbeing exist between the groups if all

background characteristics are accounted for?”

Results, conclusions and next steps

• Results of propensity score matching are all non-significant.• When comparing later-life workers and retirees

with strictly comparable background characteristics, there is no significant effect on wellbeing.

• To what extent do characteristics of employment affect outcomes?• Effort, reward and control are all important

considerations.