Unequal tracks? Studies on work, retirement and health

Background: In Sweden, the proportion of people aged 65 and older has doubled since 1950, and is projected to continue to increase. The increased longevity and proportion of older people in the population pose a challenge for financing and maintaining of the welfare, social security and pension systems. One way to address this challenge is through policy reforms aimed at raising the retirement age, increasing financial incentives for working beyond the official retirement age, abandoning or restricting early retirement routes, and prolonging the total employment period over the life span in order to receive full pension. The success of such reforms will partly depend on the health and working capacity of people in the upper end of their labour market career. In general, women have poorer health than men at all ages, and people with more socioeconomic resources have better health than those with fewer resources. Thus, women and men, as well as different socioeconomic groups, have varying prospects for extending working life. Moreover, an extended working life might have different health effects across gender and socioeconomic position. Aim: The overarching aim of this dissertation is to empirically study how retirement is influenced by health status, socioeconomic position, and gender in Sweden; and in turn how the timing of exit from the labour market is associated with health and functioning in late life. Data: The four studies in this thesis were based on nationally representative longitudinal data from the Swedish Level-of-Living Survey (LNU), the Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD), the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH), Swedish Cause of Death Register, and income register data from Statistics Sweden: the Income and Taxation Register (IoT) and the Longitudinal Integration Database for Health Insurance and Labour Market Studies (LISA). Study I: There is no consensus on how retirement age is defined and operationalized, neither in research nor in the ...