Increasing retirement ages in Denmark: Do changes in gender, education, employment status and health matter?

Recent studies report significant increases in retirement ages over the past two to three decades in most countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development-increases that research has attributed mainly to changes in the legislative frameworks for retirement in these countries. Using unique data from the Danish Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this study investigates whether and, if so to what extent, changes to the workforce in terms of gender, education, employment status (employed or self-employed) and health contribute to explaining differences in retirement ages between the cohorts born in 1935 and 1950. The retirement window of these cohorts stretches from the early 1990s to the late 2010s-a period characterized by substantial changes to workforce. On average, retirement ages increased by two years from the 1935 cohort to the 1950 cohort. However, due to changes in the investigated factors having offsetting effects, the net effect of such changes on retirement ages was minor. Thus, while increasing levels of education and better health among older workers contributed to increasing retirement ages, increasing female labour force participation and fewer self-employed workers had the opposite effect. In absolute terms, the total compositional and behavioural influence on retirement ages of changes in terms of employment status (- 0.35 years) was almost as large as the total changes in terms of education (0.44 years). Thus, future studies investigating long-term changes in retirement ages would benefit from including changes in employment status (self-employed or wage earner) as an explanatory factor.

Prolonging working life among blue-collar workers: The buffering effect of psychosocial job resources on the association between physically demanding and hazardous work and retirement timing

The need to delay retirement timing has been acknowledged in Western countries due to demographic ageing. The aim of the present study was to examine the buffering effects of job resources (decision authority, social support, work-time control, and rewards) on the association of exposures to physically demanding work tasks and physically hazardous work environment with non-disability retirement timing. Results from discrete-time event history analyses, in a sample of blue-collar workers (n = 1741; 2792 observations) from the nationwide longitudinal Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH), supported that decision authority and social support may buffer the negative impact of heavy physical demands on working longer (continuing working vs retiring). Stratified analyses by gender showed that the buffering effect of decision authority remained statistically significant for men, while that of social support remained statistically significant for women. Moreover, an age effect was displayed, such that a buffering effect of social support on the association of heavy physical demands and high physical hazards with working longer were found among older men (≥64 years), but not younger (59-63 years). The findings suggest that heavy physical demands should be reduced, however, when not feasible physical demands should be accompanied by social support at work for delaying retirement.

The Implication of Physically Demanding and Hazardous Work on Retirement Timing

The need to retain individuals longer in the workforce is acknowledged in many high-income countries. The present study therefore aimed to examine the importance of physically demanding work tasks (PDWT) and physically hazardous work environment (PHWE) in relation to retirement timing among pensionable workers (≥61 years). A particular question was whether PDWT and PHWE increased in importance with age. Six waves (2008–2018) of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) were used (n = 5201; 56% women and 44% men; mean age at first survey was 61.0 (SD 2.0) years). Discrete time-event history analysis, stratified by socioeconomic position and gender, showed that among blue-collar workers, PDWT and PHWE were associated with an increased likelihood of retiring within the next two years. With increasing age, high-level PHWE was associated with higher probability of retiring among blue-collar men, whereas heavy PDWT was associated with lower probability of retiring among blue-collar women. Among white-collar workers, having at least some PDWT compared to no PDWT was associated with a lower likelihood of retiring within the next two years. With increasing age, exposure to PHWE was associated with higher probability of retiring among white-collar women. These results suggest that to delay retirements, organizations could offer their older employees, especially blue-collar workers and the oldest white-collar women, alternatives to PDWT and PHWE.

Employees' Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral Responses to Increasing Statutory Retirement Ages

Increasing statutory retirement ages around the world are forcing employees to prolong their working lives. We study the different ways in which mid- and late-career workers respond to such changes. We distinguish between negative emotions about working longer, cognitive engagement with prolonged employment, and proactive behavior to facilitate longer working lives. We analyze data from 1,351 employees aged 40-66 from the Netherlands. We estimate a structural equation model to identify in which ways experiences of age discrimination, accessibility of accommodative HR facilities, and social norms in the workers' social networks are related to the three different types of responses. Results show that when employees do not experience age discrimination, when their employer offers easily accessible accommodative HR facilities, and the social norms support prolonged employment, employees have fewer negative emotional reactions and are more likely to behaviorally respond to facilitate longer working lives. When these contexts are misaligned, the reverse is generally found. We also find socioeconomic differences in the ways employees respond to the prospect of prolonged employment. This study shows the importance of supportive contexts at different levels—societally, in organizations, and in individuals' own lives—for policy changes such as increasing statutory retirement ages to be effective. Different responses between different socioeconomic groups may lead to growing long-term inequality.

Coping with more people with more illness. Part 1: the nature of the challenge and the implications for safety and quality

Health systems are under more pressure than ever before, and the challenges are multiplying and accelerating. Economic forces, new technology, genomics, AI in medicine, increasing demands for care-all are playing a part, or are predicted to increasingly do so. Above all, ageing populations in many parts of the world are exacerbating the disease burden on the system and intensifying the requirements to provide effective care equitably to citizens. In this first of two companion articles on behalf of the Innovation and Systems Change Working Group of the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua), in consultation with representatives from over 40 countries, we assess this situation and discuss the implications for safety and quality. Health systems will need to run ahead of the coming changes and learn how to cope better with more people with more chronic and acute illnesses needing care. This will require collective ingenuity, and a deep desire to reconfigure healthcare and re-engineer services. Chief amongst the successful strategies, we argue, will be preventative approaches targeting both physical and psychological health, paying attention to the determinants of health, keeping people at home longer, experimenting with new governance and financial models, creating novel incentives, upskilling workforces to fit them for the future, redesigning care teams and transitioning from a system delivering episodic care to one that looks after people across the life cycle. There are opportunities for the international community to learn together to revitalise their health systems in a time of change and upheaval.

Public Employment Policy for an Aging Workforce

Americans are working longer. For many older workers, employment earnings are essential for self-sufficiency. When older workers are forced to change jobs, they suffer bigger earnings losses and take longer to find new jobs than prime-age workers. Unfortunately, public workforce policy has not adapted to serve older workers. Our strategic survey of published research evidence and government statistics suggests a variety of ways that employment programs could be adapted to benefit older workers. In this article, we examine the changing age composition of the labor force, the employment patterns of older workers, and offer specific improvements in public employment policy for an aging workforce.