Is being in paid work beyond state pension age beneficial for health? Evidence from England using a life-course approach

Many policy areas of the German welfare state that are important for understanding the gendered implications of extended working lives have been reformed over the years-not only employment and pensions, but also child and long-term care. The country has been perceived as successful in especially turning a pronounced early retirement culture around. In this chapter a feminist political economy of ageing and life course perspective is applied, which shows a more differentiated picture, one that does not show a success story for all. Especially women and lower qualified person work part-time in later stages of their career or leave the labour market before state pension age, which is disadvantageous in social insurance countries, such as Germany. It is expected that old age incomes will become more polarised and old age poverty will grow.

Participation in socially-productive activities, reciprocity and wellbeing in later life: baseline results in England

Ageing and Society ◽

10.1017/s0144686x08008350 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 765-782 ◽

Cited By ~ 112

Author(s):

ANNE McMUNN ◽

JAMES NAZROO ◽

MORTEN WAHRENDORF ◽

ELIZABETH BREEZE ◽

PAOLA ZANINOTTO

Keyword(s):

Later Life ◽

Social Activities ◽

Paid Work ◽

Voluntary Work ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Productive Activities ◽

Pension Age ◽

State Pension ◽

Sectional Analysis

ABSTRACTThis paper examines whether participation in social activities is associated with higher levels of wellbeing among post-retirement age people in England, and, if so, whether these relationships are explained by the reciprocal nature of these activities. Cross-sectional analysis of relationships between social activities (including paid work, caring and volunteering) and wellbeing (quality of life, life satisfaction and depression) was conducted among participants of one wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) who were of state pension age or older. Participants in paid or voluntary work generally had more favourable wellbeing than those who did not participate in these activities. Caring was not associated with wellbeing, although female carers were less likely to be depressed than non-carers. Carers, volunteers and those in paid work who felt adequately rewarded for their activities had better wellbeing than those who were not participating in those activities, while those who did not feel rewarded did not differ from non-participants. These results point to the need to increase the rewards that older people receive from their productive activities, particularly in relation to caring work.

Life-Course Influences on Extended Working: Experiences of Women in a UK Baby-Boom Birth Cohort

Work Employment and Society ◽

10.1177/0950017019880077 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 211-227 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Josephine M Wildman

Keyword(s):

Life Course ◽

Birth Cohort ◽

Survey Data ◽

Baby Boom ◽

Working Life ◽

Later Life ◽

Longitudinal Survey Data ◽

Pension Age ◽

State Pension ◽

The Life Course

Combining feminist political economy and life-course perspectives, this mixed-methods study critically examines the extent to which extended working life policies take account of women’s experiences of paid and unpaid work. I explore how decisions to extend working life are shaped by gendered social structures and norms across the life course among women in the Newcastle Thousand Families Study, a UK early baby-boom birth cohort. Among this cohort of women currently transitioning into retirement, analysis of longitudinal survey data identifies a range of mid- and later-life factors that impact on the likelihood of women working beyond state-pension age. In-depth life-course interviews identify further complex and interacting gendered life-course experiences, not captured in the survey data, which act to necessitate, encourage, enable or constrain extended working. I conclude that, if women are to extend their working lives, ‘joined-up’ policies are required, addressing gendered inequalities across the life course.

Retirement and Risk: The Individualisation of Retirement Experiences?

The Sociological Review ◽

10.1111/j.1467-954x.2005.00504.x ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 53 (1) ◽

pp. 77-95 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Sarah Vickerstaff ◽

Jennie Cox

Keyword(s):

Life Course ◽

Early Retirement ◽

Financial Risk ◽

Retirement Age ◽

Private Pensions ◽

Pension Schemes ◽

Retirement Decisions ◽

Pension Age ◽

State Pension ◽

And Control

A climate of uncertainty and risk exists in the field of retirement and pensions. Many employers have modified their pension schemes shifting the financial risk onto employees. Many individuals with private pensions have watched the value of their savings diminish. Added to this, the trend toward early retirement before state pension age has destabilised the traditional life course notion of a fixed retirement age, (especially for men). As a result, the concept of retirement itself has become more unpredictable and difficult to define. In this article we examine the extent of the individualisation of retirement experiences by reference to a study of retirement transitions in two organisations. The research investigated the influences on people's retirement decisions and the extent to which they experienced choice and control over how and when they retired. It is possible to identify a pattern of individualisation in contrast to its opposite of a mass transition into retirement, collectively understood and embedded in formal, institutionalised arrangements. However, underlying this fragmentation of experience there are clear structural patterns. The form that structured individualisation took here, was less to increase the majority of people's range of alternatives and choices over when and how to retire and more to enlarge the range of risks they had to cope with.

A life course approach to total tooth loss: Testing the sensitive period, accumulation, and social mobility models in the Health and Retirement Study

Community Dentistry And Oral Epidemiology ◽

10.1111/cdoe.12463 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 47 (4) ◽

pp. 333-339 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Haena Lee

Keyword(s):

Life Course ◽

Social Mobility ◽

Tooth Loss ◽

Sensitive Period ◽

Health And Retirement Study ◽

Mobility Models ◽

Life Course Approach ◽

Retirement Study

Work Participation among Women and Men in Sweden: A Register Study of 8.5 Million Individuals

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18094642 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (9) ◽

pp. 4642

Author(s):

Katriina Heikkilä ◽

Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz ◽

Kristina Alexanderson ◽

Marianna Virtanen

Keyword(s):

Life Course ◽

Gender Gap ◽

Disability Pension ◽

Negative Binomial ◽

Work Participation ◽

Observational Research ◽

Paid Work ◽

Minimal Impact ◽

The Life Course

Observational research studies from various countries suggest that women’s working patterns across the life course are often fragmented compared to men’s. The aim of our investigation was to use nationwide register data from Sweden to examine the extent to which generation and time of entry to the work force explain the sex differences in work participation across the life course. Our analyses were based on individual-level data on 4,182,581 women and 4,279,571 men, who were 19–69 years old and resident in Sweden in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, or 2015. Data on income and number of net days on disability pension, obtained from multiple linked registers, were used to ascertain each individual’s main activity (in paid work, on disability pension, and not in paid work) each year. Years in paid work and on disability pension were calculated as the sums of years spent in either of these states from age 19 to 69 years. We used negative binomial regression to model the associations of generation and baseline year with years in paid work and years on disability pension. All models were run separately for women and men, with the duration of follow-up constrained to one, to account for the different follow-up times between individuals. Overall, the number of years in paid work across the life course was larger among men than women, and men entered into the workforce earlier. The difference between women and men was similar across generations and time periods. Adjustment for education, income, number of children aged <18 years living at home, country of birth, and the type of residential area had minimal impact on the estimates. Our findings suggest that women spend fewer years in paid work across the life course than men, highlighting the need for continued efforts to close the gender gap in work participation.

Stung by pension reforms: The unequal impact of changes in state pension age on UK women and their partners

Labour Economics ◽

10.1016/j.labeco.2021.102049 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 72 ◽

pp. 102049

Author(s):

Marina Della Giusta ◽

Simonetta Longhi

Keyword(s):

Pension Reforms ◽

Pension Age ◽

State Pension

Paediatric obesity and cardiovascular risk factors – A life course approach

Porto Biomedical Journal ◽

10.1016/j.pbj.2017.02.004 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 102-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Joana Araújo ◽

Elisabete Ramos

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Cardiovascular Risk ◽

Life Course ◽

Cardiovascular Risk Factors ◽

Life Course Approach ◽

Paediatric Obesity

Life Course Approach on Health Disparities in Older Adults

Journal of the Korean Geriatrics Society ◽

10.4235/jkgs.2013.17.3.111 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 111-117 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Soong-Nang Jang

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Health Disparities ◽

Life Course ◽

Life Course Approach

A Life Course Approach to Inequality: Examining Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Relationship between Early Life Socioeconomic Conditions and Health in Later Life Among Men

Ethnicity & Disease ◽

10.18865/ed.25.3.313 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 313 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Taylor W. Hargrove, MA ◽

Tyson H. Brown, PhD

Keyword(s):

Life Course ◽

Mexican American ◽

White Men ◽

Later Life ◽

Adult Health ◽

Socioeconomic Conditions ◽

Growth Curve Models ◽

Life Course Approach ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

Racial Ethnic

Objective: Previous research has documented a relationship between childhood socioeconomic conditions and adult health, but less is known about racial/ethnic differences in this relationship, particularly among men. This study utilizes a life course approach to investigate racial/ethnic differences in the relationships among early and later life socioeconomic circumstances and health in adulthood among men.Design: Panel data from the Health and Retirement Study and growth curve models are used to examine group differences in the relationships among childhood and adult socioeconomic factors and age-trajectories of self-rated health among White, Black and Mexican American men aged 51-77 years (N=4147).Results: Multiple measures of childhood socioeconomic status (SES) predict health in adulthood for White men, while significantly fewer measures of childhood SES predict health for Black and Mexican American men. Moreover, the health consequences of childhood SES diminish with age for Black and Mexican American men. The childhood SES-adult health relationship is largely explained by measures of adult SES for White men.Conclusion: The life course pathways linking childhood SES and adult health differ by race/ethnicity among men. Similar to arguments that the universality of the adult SES-health relationship should not be assumed, results from our study suggest that scholars should not assume that the significance and nature of the association between childhood SES and health in adulthood is similar across race/ethnicity among men. Ethn Dis.2015;25(3):313-320.