Health, Working Conditions and Retirement

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the working environment as determinant of retirement (section “Working Conditions as Determinants of Retirement”) and its role as mediator of the health effects of retirement (section “The Health Effect of Retirement”). In the first Section on “Working Conditions as Determinants of Retirement”, we summarize studies showing that having a good job is an important aspect of individuals’ retirement decisions. Mostly positive working conditions appear to contribute to individuals’ later retirement, but adverse working conditions not necessarily relate to earlier retirement. Moreover, adverse conditions can be buffered when combined with high job control, job resources or social support. In the Section on “The Health Effect of Retirement”, we focus on how retirement affects health in both theoretical and applied studies, suggesting that the inconclusiveness illustrated in theories is also evident in empirical work. Previous studies, however, vary largely regarding the adopted (1) health outcomes, (2) study designs, (3) definition of retirement and (4) the type of work performed before retirement. These four factors could explain the inconsistencies of the results. We finally focus on the latter factor, showing that the effect of retirement on health tends to be positive for workers retiring from low quality or more demanding jobs. Our chapter concludes with policy advices regarding how to promote longer and healthy working lives and a discussion of relevant groups to pay attention to.