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. 2018 May;75(5):369-377.
doi: 10.1136/oemed-2017-104619. Epub 2018 Mar 12.

Occupational and educational inequalities in exit from employment at older ages: evidence from seven prospective cohorts

Ewan Carr  1   2 , Maria Fleischmann  1 , Marcel Goldberg  3   4   5 , Diana Kuh  6 , Emily T Murray  1 , Mai Stafford  6 , Stephen Stansfeld  7 , Jussi Vahtera  8 , Baowen Xue  1 , Paola Zaninotto  1 , Marie Zins  4   5   9 , Jenny Head  1
Affiliations

Occupational and educational inequalities in exit from employment at older ages: evidence from seven prospective cohorts

Ewan Carr et al. Occup Environ Med. 2018 May.

Abstract

Objectives: Past studies have identified socioeconomic inequalities in the timing and route of labour market exit at older ages. However, few studies have compared these trends cross-nationally and existing evidence focuses on specific institutional outcomes (such as disability pension and sickness absence) in Nordic countries. We examined differences by education level and occupational grade in the risks of work exit and health-related work exit.

Methods: Prospective longitudinal data were drawn from seven studies (n=99 164). Participants were in paid work at least once around age 50. Labour market exit was derived based on reductions in working hours, changes in self-reported employment status or from administrative records. Health-related exit was ascertained by receipt of health-related benefit or pension or from the reported reason for stopping work. Cox regression models were estimated for each study, adjusted for baseline self-rated health and birth cohort.

Results: There were 50 003 work exits during follow-up, of which an average of 14% (range 2-32%) were health related. Low level education and low occupational grade were associated with increased risks of health-related exit in most studies. Low level education and occupational grade were also associated with an increased risk of any exit from work, although with less consistency across studies.

Conclusions: Workers with low socioeconomic position have an increased risk of health-related exit from employment. Policies that extend working life may disadvantage such workers disproportionally, especially where institutional support for those exiting due to poor health is minimal.

Keywords: extended working life; health-related work exit; socioeconomic position.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Association of low level education with risk of any work exit. BHPS, British Household Panel; ELSA, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing; FPS, Finnish Public Sector Study; GAZEL, Electricit é De France-Gaz De France; HRS, Health and Retirement Study; NSHD, National  Survey of Health and Development.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Association of low occupational grade with risk of any work exit. BHPS, British Household Panel; ELSA, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing; FPS, Finnish Public Sector Study; GAZEL, Electricit é De France-Gaz De France; HRS, Health and Retirement Study; NSHD, National Survey of Health and Development.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Association of low level education with risk of health-related work exit. BHPS, British Household Panel; ELSA, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing; FPS, Finnish Public Sector Study; GAZEL, Electricit é De France-Gaz De France; HRS, Health and Retirement Study; NSHD, National Survey of Health and Development.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Association of low occupational grade with risk of health-related work exit. BHPS, British Household Panel; ELSA, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing; FPS, Finnish Public Sector Study; GAZEL, Electricit é De France-Gaz De France; HRS, Health and Retirement Study; NSHD, National Survey of Health and Development.
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