# The Employment Consequences of Disability After Age 50: Do Working Conditions Matter?

## TL;DR

This study finds that older workers with disabilities are more likely to leave or change jobs, especially if their jobs are physically demanding.

## Contribution

The study introduces the moderating role of working conditions in how disability affects employment outcomes for older workers.

## Key findings

- Disability increases the likelihood of leaving paid work, working part-time, or seeking a new job.
- Physically demanding jobs amplify the impact of disability on employment outcomes.
- Working conditions significantly influence how older workers respond to disability.

## Abstract

This study examines how employment responses to disability vary with working conditions. We use data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging and focus on individuals aged 50+ who experience the onset of one or more difficulties with activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) between two waves (N = 992). We combine coarsened exact matching and entropy balancing with logistic modelling to estimate the impact of the onset of disability on the probability of leaving paid work, working part-time, changing jobs or looking for a new job. We examine the moderating role of gender and working conditions (job autonomy, job demands, job physicality). Disability significantly increases the probability of leaving paid work, working part-time and looking for a new job. This effect is stronger for people who had a physically demanding job. This suggests the importance of working conditions in shaping older workers’ employment behaviours.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12763547