The health effects of later-life employment Katey Matthews ESRC & MRC PhD Student ( ) CCSR, University of Manchester Tarani Chandola Social 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

The health effects of later-life employment Katey Matthews, PhD Student CCSR, 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: results Depression Pooled effect (d): I 2 : 98.5% Self-rated health Pooled effect (d): I 2 : 98.7%

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.