‘Fuller’ or ‘extended’ working lives? Critical perspectives on changing transitions from work to retirement

Digital Literacy in the Informal Economy of Ghana: Life-long Learning and Extending Working Lives of Older Persons in Post-Covid-19 Era

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the growing importance of digital technologies for economic resilience, especially for vulnerable groups like older workers in the informal sector. However, barriers to access and digital literacy create challenges alongside potential opportunities, particularly in less developed countries such as Ghana. Using older adults over 50 years engaged in informal work in Kumasi's Central Business District in Ghana as a case, this paper explores older informal workers' use of digital technologies in Ghana during the pandemic. Findings suggest that older informal workers relied heavily on their mobile phones as the only critical technological tool to sustain their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the findings also reveal critical gaps in skills, training, and support, alongside resourcefulness in leveraging digital tools for business continuity. Key policy implications include expanding mobile-centric digital literacy programs, addressing infrastructure divides, and integrating capacity building into social protection. The paper contributes insights on strengthening lifelong learning and extending the working lives of older persons in the informal sector in the post-COVID era.

[Occupational health policies in older workers: comparative analysis between Spain and Chile]

OBJECTIVE

To analyze and compare the current Spanish and Chilean regulations regarding occupational risk prevention, regarding the existence of specific indications that protect the occupational health and safety of people over 55 years of age.

METHOD

Qualitative study in which a documentary content analysis was carried out using ATLAS/ti. The sample was 88 regulatory documents on occupational risk prevention for Spain and Chile. The guidance of the European Agency for Safety at Work (EU-OSHA) regarding age-critical risks was followed.

RESULTS

In global terms, 21.9% of the total Spanish documents analyzed show the explicit presence of considerations on aging, while for Chile this occurs in 9%. Both countries mention indications regarding ergonomic risks and noise. Shift work and psychosocial risks are considered only in Spain, while extreme temperatures, vibrations and geographical altitude appear exclusively in Chilean regulations. Neither country refers to issues inherent to working women (care responsibilities, menopause).

CONCLUSIONS

The Spanish regulations present a greater presence of indications on aging compared to the Chilean one. However, development in this area is insufficient in both countries. Chile and Spain have guides of recommendations, which are not mandatory, and their application is voluntary. This suggests that the prevention of occupational risks has a great pending challenge with people over 55 years of age.

Predictors of Retirement Voluntariness Using Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging Data

Objectives: Involuntary exit from the labor force can lead to poor health and well-being outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to better understand the factors that contribute to perceived retirement voluntariness. Methods: We conducted descriptive and multivariable logistic regression analyses using a sample of recent retirees (n = 2080) from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Results: More than one-quarter (28%) of older workers perceived their retirement to be involuntary. Among 37 possible predictors, 14 directly predicted retirement voluntariness and many more indirectly predicted retirement voluntariness. Only four direct predictors were common to both women and men, retiring because of organizational restructuring/job elimination; disability, health, or stress; financial possibility; and having wanted to stop working. Discussion: Findings suggest the need for employment support, health promotion, work disability prevention, financial education, and support that is sensitive to the differences between women and men to prevent involuntary retirement.

A Life-Course Perspective on Older Workers in Workplaces Undergoing Transformative Digitalization

Workplaces are digitalizing, which leaves many older individuals with the choice between upskilling and early retirement. How they approach this choice influences their financial well-being, the size of the workforce, and the financial sustainability of pension schemes. The present article explores how the life-course perspective can be used to explore the situation of older workers in workplaces undergoing transformative digitalization. The life-course perspective suggests that the transformative digitalization of workplaces does not change what life events older workers encounter. However, it modifies how the events affect older workers and their capabilities for striking a work-life balance. Additionally, digitalization changes life-course structures. It can lead to earlier or later retirement, which changes the length of the life phases of middle age and old age-and possibly creates new social inequalities in life courses. The effects of transformative digitalization on older workers vary across cohorts and countries, which is typical for the principle of anchoring life courses in time and place. Future research can use the present article as a guideline for which concepts may be useful in studies on older workers in digitalizing workplaces.

The Extension of Late Working Life in Germany: Trends, Inequalities, and the East-West Divide

The extension of late working life has been proposed as a potential remedy for the challenges of aging societies. For Germany, surprisingly little is known about trends and social inequalities in the length of late working life. We use data from the German Microcensus to estimate working life expectancy from age 55 onward for the 1941‒1955 birth cohorts. We adjust our calculations of working life expectancy for working hours and present results for western and eastern Germany by gender, education, and occupation. While working life expectancy has increased across cohorts, we find strong regional and socioeconomic disparities. Decomposition analyses show that among males, socioeconomic differences are predominantly driven by variation in employment rates; among women, variation in both employment rates and working hours are highly relevant. Older eastern German women have longer working lives than older western German women, which is likely attributable to the German Democratic Republic legacy of high female employment.

Psychological Effects Of Unemployment Across The Lifespan: A Synthesis Of Relevant Literature

Amid ongoing global economic uncertainty and long-standing efforts to tackle age discrimination and increase older workers' labor force engagement, it is pertinent to consider age differences in the individual effects of joblessness. This is paramount for informing support services, policy formulation, and research. This article is based on a literature review of international peer reviewed quantitative research that has examined the relationship between age, psychological wellbeing and unemployment. Two hundred and twenty-six studies were screened and 36 were included. No relevant qualitative studies were identified. Among the studies, there was a broad consensus that there are age differences in terms of the psychological consequences of unemployment. However, they showed mixed evidence, and critical conceptual and methodological deficiencies were identified. We conclude that the body of evidence is weak and that drawing from it for the development of practice and policy in support of jobless individuals is to be cautioned against.

Social Participation Through the Retirement Transition: Differences by Gender and Employment Status

This study examines how retirees' formal and informal social participation change over time and investigates gendered differences. Seven waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing track the frequency of social participation. A comparison group of employed individuals, weighted with coarsened exact matching, controls for age and time trends, and mixed model regressions estimate changes over time. Retirees show a gradual decline in the frequency of meeting friends and an abrupt decrease in the frequency of attending a social gathering, compared to their working peers. These trends are much stronger for men than women, and compound pre-existing gender differences in social participation. The more severe decline in the social participation of men is of great concern and points to the persistence of gendered employment structures into the retirement transition, putting Korean retirees at risk of social isolation and related health deterioration.

Media portrayals of transitions from work to retirement in two ageing societies: the case of ageing baby boomers in Japan and Finland

This article explores media portrayals of the transition from work to retirement under the circumstances of demographic change through a focus on newspaper discussions about ageing baby boomers in Japan and Finland. Due to their shared characteristics as a distinct population group that advances the rapid ageing of the population, media representations of Japanese and Finnish baby boomers during the transitional period to retirement give insight into the social perceptions of retirement and their implications on later life. Manifest content analysis and subsequent thematic analysis identify that the topic of "work, retirement and pension" dominates media discussions in both countries. Analysis also conveys that this topic involves specific themes on three levels: macro level, attitudinal level and behavioural level regarding working, subjective and social perceptions of retirement. Social and cultural differences between Japan and Finland are well accounted for in shaping each theme, which is characterised by even contrasting expressions regarding the extension of working life and attitudes toward work and retirement. However, deeper analysis suggests that the idea that values an active, productive and engaged lifestyle beyond retirement underlies both Japanese and Finnish media discourses. Media discussions in both countries risk creating a discriminatory dichotomy among older people: the Finnish media marginalises those who are out of work and without work-like activities, while the Japanese media tend to exclude those without socially desirable competence.

The Silver Generation in the labor market: Work and time management of the 65+ age group in North-Eastern Hungary

The investigation of the labor market challenges generated by an aging society is currently one of the central subjects of international academic literature. Previous research mostly analyzed the labor market participation of people aged between 55 and 65. However, as the raising of the retirement age is on the agenda in several European countries, the ability and willingness of the 65+ age group to work has become a key issue. Our questionnaire survey conducted in Hajdú-Bihar county, North-Eastern Hungary (N = 2,625, multistage probability sample) focused on this age group, which has received relatively little attention in research with respect to their labor market status. It investigated participation in the formal and informal labor market, the time management of the 65+ age group, and the factors that determine their willingness to work. Our analysis revealed that only a rather small proportion (2.7%) of the investigated age group is engaged in the formal economy, and the vast majority (93%) is not engaged in any gainful activity even in the informal economy. However, in 68.7% of the sample we can identify certain activities that aim to reduce expenses and can be clearly considered as work. Thus the members of the Silver Generation are working to a considerably higher degree than official employment statistics show. The primary obstacle for open labor market involvement is not age but rather education level and health status. According to our research, the level of employment of the 65+ age group is highly affected by the lack of pressing financial need and also by ageism. A total of 99.2% of the respondents possess transfer incomes that cover their living expenses, so in their case there is no financial constraint forcing them to return to the open labor market. At the same time, certain widespread stereotypes about the work involvement of older people are also strongly present among members of the 65+ age group (internalized ageism) and significantly reduce their motivation to participate in employment in the formal economy even among those members of the age group who are still fit for work.

‘In a hospital bed or … out doing Indiana Jones’: older Irish men's negotiations of cultural representations of ageing

There is a growing body of interdisciplinary literature on the representation and construction of ageing masculinities; however, there is a lack of specific analysis of older men's responses to cultural images of ageing. It is important to examine how cultural meanings around ageing may inform older men's lived experiences, an underexplored aspect of gender and social relations. This article does so and contributes to social gerontology and masculinity studies. It draws on focus group discussions and follow-up interviews or reflective diaries with seven men aged 65–73 years, varying in terms of relationship status and sexual orientation. The research forms part of an international study. It discusses the initial thematic findings, interpreted with reference to literature on ageing in culture and society, and hegemonic masculinities. The analysis identifies five primary themes: underrepresentation and stereotyping in media; diminishment of family role; transition from work to retirement; agency as opposed to confinement; and ageing as engaged and autonomous, illustrating some of the issues involved in the fluidity of masculinity over a lifetime. It highlights how representation can inform perceptions and experiences of growing older, and shows shifting masculine identities that negotiate hegemonic expectations as well as discourses about ageing. This study demonstrates how the participants’ modifications of hegemonic masculine and ageing identity interrogate and broaden these discourses, and opens avenues for future investigation.

Pensions and the Extending Working Lives Agenda in the UK: The Impact on Women

Extending working lives (EWLs) has been a key policy response to the challenges presented by an ageing population in the United Kingdom (UK). This includes the use of pension policies to encourage working longer. However, opportunities and experiences of EWLs are not equal. While much has been written about EWLs more broadly, limited attention has been paid to connecting those EWLs policies associated with pensions and their potentially unequal impact on women. This article aims to address this gap, taking a feminist political-economy perspective to explore the structural constraints that shape EWLs and pensions. Initially it briefly introduces the EWLs agenda, before focussing on pension developments and their implications for EWLs, considering the gendered nature of these policies. Finally, it touches upon potential policy measures to mitigate the impact of these developments on women. It demonstrates how women’s existing labour market and pension disadvantages have been largely overlooked in the development of EWLs policy, perpetuating or expanded many women’s financial inequalities in later life. It highlights the need for a greater focus on gendered pension differences in developing EWLs policy to ensure women’s circumstances are not adversely impacted on.

Why older rural women in Ireland want to work: it's not all about the money

This paper extends our understanding of employment and gendered rural ageing by examining the latent benefits of paid work for mid-life women in rural Ireland. Existing social gerontology literature deals extensively with manifest financial reasons to work, consequences of gendered pay and pension inequalities, work-related health concerns and the negative impacts to an extended working life for women. However, there is much less focus on the latent non-financial positive contributions that work provides for the older woman, especially within a rural context. Findings from this study show how mid-life women, even if in lower-paid, precarious work or in poorer health may choose to continue working into older age. Paid work provides not only financial autonomy, but also temporal structure, life purpose, personal agency, social connectivity and a self-identity that most women are reluctant to relinquish to retirement. Meaningful work plays a critical role in the ageing experience of older rural women. A qualitative study of 25 women aged 45–65 in Connemara, Ireland was undertaken from a lifecourse perspective and analysed using constructivist grounded theory to allow rich, novel narrative to emerge. Narrative from seven, who best represent all participants, are utilised in this paper. Conclusions suggest that the latent benefits of paid work are at least as, if not more important than financial gain for rural mid-life women.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Working Lives and Retirement Timing of Older Nurses in Ireland

COVID-19 profoundly affected Irish citizens. The effects have been especially pronounced for nurses in front-line, clinical and management roles. This article discusses the national and employer policy context relevant to nurses in Ireland. There have been staff and bed shortages in public hospitals since austerity policies were introduced following the global financial crisis. Government measures responding to the pandemic include initial 'cocooning' of older citizens, travel restrictions, changed working conditions and restricted availability of childcare. This article draws on interviews with 25 older nurses in 2021, sixteen women and nine men, aged 49 or over in Ireland. It explores older nurses' experiences of COVID-19 and asks what are the implications for their working conditions and retirement timing intentions. A gendered political economy of ageing approach and thematic analysis reveals that while some nurses responded positively to the pandemic, some experienced adverse health impacts, stress and exhaustion; some reported a fear of contracting COVID-19 and of infecting their families; several women nurses decided to retire earlier due to COVID-19. The implications of the findings for employer and government policy and for research are discussed.

Job quality trajectories among baby-boomers in Germany and their consequences for the motivation to work – results from the lidA cohort study

In light of a large proportion of older workers leaving the German labour market in the near future, policy makers aim to extend working lives to ensure sustainability of the social security system. In this context, safe and healthy working conditions are considered a precondition for encouraging employment participation. To understand better the role of the work environment in pre-retirement years, we draw upon an established model of five job quality profiles for the German ageing workforce. We explored seven-year profile development and linked selected manual and non-manual job quality trajectories to the motivation to work (MTW) using data from the 2011, 2014 and 2018 assessments of the lidA cohort study (valid N = 2,863). We found that older workers shifted to physically less-demanding profiles. Individual profile stability was prevalent among one-third of the workers. In 2018, there was a higher MTW when job quality remained favourable or improved early, while later improvements were associated with lower MTW. Early deterioration of job quality was associated with lower MTW levels among workers with non-manual trajectories only. The results highlight the dynamic job quality situation of the older German workforce and the importance of adopting a person-centred perspective when investigating working conditions and its effects. They further underline the need to consider quality of work when designing and implementing strategies to extend working lives.

Retirement anticipation - gendered patterns in a gender-equal society? a study of senior workers in Norway

How do different people imagine their own retirement? In this article, we use a representative survey from 2019 to investigate whether female and male senior workers in Norway differ in the ways they anticipate their lives as retirees, and whether covariates of various images differ across gender. We find that women are more likely than men to anticipate spending time on family-related activities, on hobbies and volunteering and on traveling, but less likely to plan for bridge employment and worry about empty time. Health and income are key determinants in men's images, while partners and children are important for women.

The enduring myth of endemic age discrimination in the Australian labour market

It has often been stated by older people's advocates that discrimination affecting older people is commonplace and ongoing in the Australian labour market. In this article, we contrast such rhetoric with a review of evidence from recent large-scale surveys which demonstrates that low and declining numbers of Australians experience age discrimination, while highlighting the complexity of the phenomenon. We identify the emergence of a fake ‘age’ advocacy that is acting to the detriment of an informed public discourse concerning issues of older workers’ employment. To counter this we propose five underlying principles for advocacy on ageing and work: countering myths concerning the extent and nature of age barriers in the labour market; avoiding and challenging the use of age stereotypes in making the business case for older workers’ employment; recognition that age interacts in complex ways with a range of other factors in determining people's experiences of the labour market; challenging public understanding that is grounded in the notion that generational conflict is inevitable; and discarding traditional notions of the lifecourse in order to overcome disjunctions and contradictions that hamper efforts to encourage and support longer working lives.

Older workers’ evaluations of the political goal to extend working life: Discursive approach to the “attitude problem”

Population ageing presents major challenges to the welfare system across the European Union. Consequently, emphasizing delayed retirement age and extended working lives abound in political discussions. Researchers have recognized numerous problems, which make the extended working life a challenging political task. One of these problems are citizens’ negative attitudes toward delayed retirement and extended working life. In this paper, we approach this “attitude problem” from the perspective of discursive social psychology and analyze the variation in the way aspirations to extend working lives are evaluated by older workers. The data analyzed in the study consists of interviews where participants between 50 and 65 years of age comment on the political goal to extend working lives. The article sheds light on the “attitude problem” by turning the attention from underlying individual preferences to discursive resources used to undermine the political goal and the situational functions these evaluative practices have.

Income growth in the United Kingdom during late career and after retirement: growing inequalities after deindustrialisation, educational expansion and development of the knowledge-based economy

This article shows how late-life incomes from work and pensions evolved in the United Kingdom between 1991 and 2007, the year the Great Recession began. Our main contribution comes from focusing on changes across cohorts in different educational groups while also considering the gender divide. Our statistical analyses based on the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) suggest that deindustrialisation, the expansion of jobs in the knowledge economy and pension reforms affected senior workers’ incomes before and after retirement. Highly qualified senior male workers have profited from increasing income across the cohorts more than any other social group. Such a trend is not observed among highly qualified female workers. Male and female low-qualified senior workers do not show major income loses, but have not benefited to the same extent as highly educated male workers. As a result, pension income inequalities between highly qualified men and the rest have increased. The increasing pensions gap between educational groups can be traced back to the improving situation on the labour market for highly qualified male workers, and to reforms benefiting private pension schemes, where the highly qualified are overrepresented. Thus, the shift in pension provisions towards private pension schemes is clearly disadvantageous for low-qualified male workers and for women of all educational levels, and contributes to the increase of social inequalities.

Live longer, retire later? Developments of healthy life expectancies and working life expectancies between age 50–59 and age 60–69 in Europe

Europe’s population is ageing. Statutory retirement ages are commonly raised to account for continuous increases in life expectancy. In order to estimate the potential to increase statutory and consequently effective retirement ages further, in this study, we investigate the relationship between partial working life expectancy (WLE) and three health expectancies that represent health aspects important for work ability and employability between ages 50 and 59 as well as 60 and 69 for women and men in Europe. We also explore the association between these four indicators and the highest level of educational attainment. We apply Sullivan’s method to estimate WLE and three selected measures that capture general, physical, and cognitive health status of older adults for 26 European countries since 2004. Over time, WLEs increased significantly in the younger age group for women and in the older age group for both sexes. The expected number of years in good physical health have continuously been higher than any of the other three indicators, while the expected number of years in good cognitive health have shown a noticeable increase over time. The investigation of the relationship between education and each life expectancy confirms the well-established positive correlation between education and economic activity as well as good health. Our results indicate potential to extend working lives beyond current levels. However, significant differences in the expected number of years in good health between persons with different levels of education require policies that account for this heterogeneity.

Retirement can wait: a phenomenographic exploration of professional baby-boomer engagement in non-standard employment

This qualitative study explores the experiences of 23 professional baby-boomers in Australia who are challenging the traditional employment and retirement pathway through non-standard employment (NSE). We focus on professional part-time, casual and self-employed work within the kaleidoscope of various working arrangements that form NSE. Using a phenomenographic approach, we identified variations in how these older baby-boomers experience engagement in NSE. Our findings revealed five interrelated hierarchical categories of description, which posit a generally positive view of NSE and highlight financial stability, flexibility, continued activity, social ties and maintaining self-identity as key conceptions for work engagement. Our study suggests that NSE is an important and under-researched part of the labour market for baby-boomer professionals, that it can offer greater opportunities for engagement and that the traditional hard-boundary view of retirement as a defined lifestage is softening. It extends our understanding of baby-boomer engagement with NSE in the labour market and offers findings that may inform future policy and practice.

Retirement or no Retirement? The Decision's Effects on Cognitive Functioning, Well-Being, and Quality of Life

This study addressed the psychological effects on personal well-being and reported quality of life of staying professionally active in late adulthood, and to what extent years of professional inactivity modulates cognitive abilities. Design and Methods: We collected data on 262 elderly adults, 129 of whom were professionally active elderly adults (who voluntarily maintained their professional activity after the age of retirement) and 133 of whom were retired adults, in a set of experimental tasks to measure basic cognitive resources. The study took place during the first quarter of 2020. Results: Active elderly people performed better on cognitive tasks that assessed attention, memory, and solving abilities and also reported more satisfaction with life and their current work. Multiple linear regressions analyses revealed that years of inactivity were associated with lower cognitive performance. Mentally demanding jobs were significantly associated with memory performance, but not with attention and planning. Conclusions: An involuntary separation from professional activity in the beginning of late adulthood may cause a deeper decline of cognitive functions, poorer adaptive adjustment to the aging process, and higher dissatisfaction with the period of life the individual is going through.

Subjective employment perspective among older workers with and without migrant background in Germany-Results of the lidA cohort study

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to investigate the subjective employment perspective in higher working age for different employee groups with migrant background (EMB) and without (non-EMB), meaning willing, being able, and planning to work until the individual state pension age (iSPA).

METHODS

A representative sample of socially insured employees born in 1959 or 1965 was surveyed in 2011, 2014, and 2018 with computer-assisted personal interviews. The current cross-sectional analysis is based on data from the third study wave (n = 3286) of the lidA cohort study. EMB were differentiated via generation (first generation, G1, vs second generation, G2) or nationality (German vs foreign). Applying bivariate statistics with the tests of independence and block-wise logistic regressions, group differences were investigated. Sex, age, educational level, net household income, health, and work factors were considered as covariates.

RESULTS

When comparing subgroups of EMB, significant differences appeared in bivariate analyses for willing and planning to work. G1 were to a higher degree planning to work longer than G2 and those with foreign nationality were more willing and planning than those with German nationality. Multivariate analyses revealed significant differences of G1 and non-EMB for planning, being significant in the fully adjusted model, but not for willing.

CONCLUSION

The findings underline the need for differentiation of migrant groups in social research and policy. When it comes to extended working lives, the first-generation migrant group, as well as foreigners may constitute risk groups and require increased attention from a work, health, and economic point of view.

Barriers and facilitators to extended working life: a focus on a predominately female ageing workforce

Many countries are reforming their pension systems so people stay in work for longer to improve the long-term sustainability of public finances to support an increasing older population. This research aimed to explore the factors that enable or inhibit people to extend working life (EWL) in a large United Kingdom-based retail organisation. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample (N = 30): 15 employees aged ⩾60 and 15 supervisors supporting these employees. Older workers were predominately female, reflecting the gender profile of the older workers in the organisation. Older workers and supervisors reported that key facilitators to EWL were good health, the perception that older workers are of value, flexibility and choice, the need for an ongoing conversation across the lifecourse, the social and community aspect of work as a facilitator to EWL and the financial necessity to EWL. Perceived barriers to EWL included poor health, negative impacts of work on health, and a lack of respect and support.

'I never really left the university:' Continuity amongst male academics in the transition from work to retirement

This study investigates the transition to retirement of male academics. It applies approaches drawn from Cumulative Advantage and Disadvantage (CAD) principles to expand Continuity theory by examining evidence for continuity and inequalities in the lifestyles of the respondents. Biographical-Narrative interviews with 20 retired academics in Brazil and the United Kingdom were conducted and analysed using Thematic Analysis. An exploration of the same occupational group in different cultural and social contexts was carried out to capture a diversity of CAD influences on retirement outcomes. The experience of continuity was individualised to each participant due to their unique combination of advantages, and their subjective interpretation of their experiences. Cumulative processes identified in this study related to (1) occupational roles played in their career; and (2) organisational level policies and practices for retirement. At the level of individual retired men, cultural and social context factors were not perceived as influential in the achievement of continuity in retirement. Continuity theory is still supported, but alone offers limited explanations of the diversity of experiences in the transition to retirement of male academics. A consideration of the role of cumulative processes and systemic dynamics, including how individuals respond to their experiences in retirement, shows how these different factors interact and affect retirement and ageing. Further studies should investigate the processes identified with other occupations, as well as women and minority groups.

A sustainable working life in the car manufacturing industry: The role of psychosocial factors, gender and occupation

AIMS

In order to add to the existing knowledge about factors associated with retirement timing, in the car industry, it is useful to consider the psychosocial working conditions prior to retirement. This case-control study aimed to investigate relationships between psychosocial job factors and extended work after the age of 62 years among workers in the car industry in Sweden.

METHODS

A study invitation with a survey was sent to workers in one of Sweden's largest car manufacturing company, who were employed 2005-2015 and either retired at the age 55-62 years or working at 63 years or older. Psychosocial variables such as job demand-control (JDC) and effort-reward imbalance (ERI) were recorded through the survey. Multiple logistic regression models were used to investigate associations between psychosocial variables and retirement in 572 cases that had continued to work ≥ 63 years, and 771 controls who had retired at 62 or earlier.

RESULTS

No associations were found between JDC-variables and retirement in the total sample or gender stratified analyses, but high demands-low control (high strain) was related to retirement before the age of 63 years in blue-collar workers. In contrast, high strain was related to continuing to work after 62 years for white-collar men and, high ERI was associated with extended work for the total sample of white-collar workers, and white-collar men, however these effects became non-significant in fully adjusted models.

CONCLUSIONS

The relationships between psychosocial factors and extended work after 62 years were inconsistent, with high strain being related to retiring earlier for blue-collar workers.

Narrating ‘potential’: older knowledge workers’ anticipatory narratives about their future employment

This article examines the narratives of 24 knowledge workers aged 48–58 as they anticipate their future employment and employability. The term knowledge worker is used to indicate occupational roles such as software engineer, academic, architect, manager and lawyer, where work involves non-routine problem-solving using ‘intellectual assets’. Four narrative patterns about future employment are presented: winding down, reorienting ‘self’ away from work, seeking progression and renewal. These patterns reveal contrasting self-evaluations of employability and potential. We argue that employability is not a straightforward function of human capital, which usually refers to experience, knowledge and qualifications. We show through our data how judgements about a person's employability – both self-evaluations as well as evaluations by others – are complicated by social norms and cultural understandings of ‘potential’. Strategies to signal one's potential become more complex and sometimes less effective for older knowledge workers. We contend that a person's age influences others’ evaluations of their employment potential, such that the relationship between attributed merit (based largely on past experience) and attributed potential (based on assumptions about a person's future) is inverted as workers become older. The findings have implications for public policies such as ‘Extending Working Lives’. Policies that remove legal and institutional barriers to extended working lives may be only partially successful without changes to cultural attitudes about older workers’ employment potential.

Extension of working life and implications for occupational health in Chile

Chile has one of the highest effective retirement ages among the countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This could be associated with retirement at older ages, as low pensions encourage people to remain active in the workforce.People undergo several changes due to the passage of time, and they have an impact on their health from a biological, psychological and social point of view. However, there is not enough knowledge on how these changes impact and interact with working, employment and health conditions of workers as they get older.This article aims to contribute to the critical debate on the extension of working life and its implications for occupational health. Some reflections in this regard are proposed based on a review of the most recent relevant literature.

Working Longer May Be Good Public Policy, But It Is Not Necessarily Good for Older People

Older people are facing a changed set of expectations regarding work and retirement. Until quite recently early retirement was being encouraged. Today's older workers, however, are contemplating longer working lives amid policy concerns about the costs of social welfare associated with an aging population. While working longer is, almost universally, being promoted as a social and individual good this article argues that this policy shift is unlikely to change the situation of many older workers who would have needed to continue working anyway. It also argues that the emphasis on prolonged employment undervalues engagement in activities beyond employment. As well, it argues that the emphasis on prolonging employment neglects to account for the attendant risks for many of continuing to work or having to seek work and the potential health- and well-being-enhancing effects of retirement.