Quality of work, health, and retirement

Abstract

It is widely accepted that increased life expectancy in modern societies calls for later retirement age. Yet, currently in Europe at age 60 years, as many people are retired as there are in work. 1 Börsch-Supan A, Brugiavini A, Jürges H, Mackenbach J, Siegrist J, Weber G, eds. Health, ageing and retirement in Europe: first results from the survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe. April, 2005. http://www.share-project.org/t3/share/fileadmin/pdf_documentation/SHARE_FRB1.pdf (accessed Sept 28, 2009). Google Scholar Early retirement is mainly caused by three inter-related factors: pension incentives and social security regulations, health status of employees, and work or employment conditions. 2 Gruber J Wise D Social security and retirement around the world. Chicago University Press, Chicago1999 Google Scholar In The Lancet today, Hugo Westerlund and colleagues 3 Westerlund H Kivimäki M Singh-Manoux A et al. Self-rated health before and after retirement in France (GAZEL): a cohort study. Lancet. 2009; (published online Nov 9.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61570-1 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (210) Google Scholar add an important element by showing that the burden of ill health, in terms of perceived health problems, is substantially relieved by the experience of retirement. This improvement is particularly striking in employees with poor quality of work and low job-satisfaction. Self-rated health before and after retirement in France (GAZEL): a cohort studyThese findings suggest that the burden of ill-health, in terms of perceived health problems, is substantially relieved by retirement for all groups of workers apart from those with ideal working conditions, and that working life for older workers needs to be redesigned to achieve higher labour-market participation. Full-Text PDF