#0086 Household income and retirement perspective among older workers in Germany—Findings from the lidA Cohort Study
To Retire or Not to Retire: Does Household Income Play a Role?
In industrialized countries, a rise in life expectancy has led to an increasing aging population. This trend is more pronounced in Germany, where a rise in the older population has resulted in policies encouraging longer working lives. When studying the reasons for people retiring early from their jobs or those who delay their retirement, financial stability was found to be a key factor. However, there is limited understanding on how financial status of working people influence their retirement age.
To better understand the role of financial factors for the motivation to continue working until retirement age, we analyzed representative data on 2835 older workers from the German lidA Cohort Study. The factors that were assessed included work exposures, leadership quality, and physical and mental health. The analyses were performed separately for five household income groups.
We observed that people in the lowest-income households reported poorest work exposure and health, yet, at the same time they were most motivated to continue working. The lowest income group was the only group where the health status was not associated with work motivation. The middle-income group was the least motivated to work beyond retirement age.
To conclude, there is a need for policy to acknowledge group specific negative side-effects of regulations effectively extending working lives. Older workers with limited financial resources are at increased risk for being trapped in employment – even when poor health implies the necessity for an earlier exit.
Link to the original journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/1348-9585.12130
Title of the paper:
Household income and retirement perspective among older workers in Germany—Findings from the lidA Cohort Study
Authors:
Hans Martin Hasselhorn, Melanie Ebener, Athanasios Vratzias
