Changes in Health and Their Relationship to Paid Work Across Older Cohorts in England

TL;DR

This study explores how mental distress and health issues affect older workers' economic inactivity in England, especially after the pandemic.

Contribution

The paper provides new insights into how health changes influence work transitions among older adults in England.

Findings

Mental distress and health issues are linked to increased economic inactivity among older workers.

The study identifies how different groups respond to health problems through various work transitions.

Findings suggest that health-related factors play a significant role in work decisions for older adults.

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of mental distress and other forms of ill-health/disability as drivers of increases in economic inactivity among older workers. Economic inactivity among 50–64-year-olds has risen since the pandemic (2019-2022) and has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels (ONS 2023). This rise is not seen in any other high-income country and reverses the rise of UK employment in this age group since the mid-1990s. It has been suggested that this rise in economic activity is due to increased levels of poor health; however, such findings are based on responses to questions about the ‘main reasons’ for economic inactivity rather than health-related questions. Thus, we know little about whether changes in mental distress and other forms of ill-health (if any) are driving economic inactivity levels among older adults and for which groups (e.g., low-income households). Employing data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we investigate changes across cohorts in: (1) mental distress and other forms ill-health/disability (drawing on work and health-related measures) and their relationship with paid work; (2) the nature of long-term sickness (and individual and family circumstances), and implications for paid work; and (3) how people respond to ill-health/disability through multiple types of work transitions (e.g., exiting employment, reducing work hours, changing jobs) and depending on working conditions.