BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 52: Videnskabelig artikel om tilbagetrækning blandt beskæftigede lønmodtagere i jobgrupper med stillesiddende arbejde og fysisk aktivt arbejde, fra beskæftigelseministeren

Beskæftigelsesudvalget 2018-19 (2. samling)
BEU Alm.del Bilag 52
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European Journal of Public Health,

Vol. 0, No. 0, 1–6

The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://

creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the

original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected]

doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckz146

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.........................................................................................................

Barriers and opportunities for prolonging working life

across different occupational groups: the

SeniorWorkingLife study

Lars L. Andersen

, Per H. Jensen

, Emil Sundstrup

1 National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark

2 Centre for Comparative Welfare Studies, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

Correspondence:

Lars L. Andersen, National Research Centre for the Working Environment, DK-2100 Copenhagen,

Denmark, Tel: +45 3916 5200, Fax: +45 3916 5201, e-mail: [email protected]

Background:

Increasing retirement age is a pivotal issue in labour market reforms. This study analyses factors

conditioning retirement intentions.

Methods:

In SeniorWorkingLife, 11 444 employed workers

years replied

to questions in random order about expected reasons for leaving and potential reasons for staying longer at the

labour market. Respondents were stratified based on the Danish version of International Standard Classification of

Occupations (ISCO). Representative estimates were produced using the SurveyFreq and SurveyLogistic procedures

of SAS combined with model-assisted weights based on national registers.

Results:

For ISCO groups 1–4 (seated

work) main expected reasons for retiring were freedom to choose and desire for more leisure time, but many

would consider staying longer if there were better possibilities for additional senior days, longer vacations and

flexible working hours. For ISCO groups 5–9 (physical work), poor physical health and not being capable of doing

the job were common expected reasons for retiring, but many would consider staying longer if the work were less

physically demanding and there were more senior days. Possibility for pension was a general expected reason for

retiring. Expected reasons differed to a less extent between genders than between ISCO groups, e.g. economic

factors were more important for men and high work demands more important for women.

Conclusion:

Different

barriers and opportunities for prolonging working life exist across different occupational groups of the labour

market—with most consistent differences between those with seated and physical work. Targeting these specif-

ically seems opportune for policy makers and future interventions.

.........................................................................................................

Introduction

the world—is shifting towards a relatively larger proportion of

elderly citizens.

Thus, in EU-28 the percentage of people 65 years

or older has increased from 17.1% in 2008 to 19.7% in 2018, and

this trend is predicted to continue.

To resist negative

socioeconomic consequences of this demographic transformation,

most European countries have orchestrated pension reforms

encouraging older workers to postpone retirement. However,

retirement intentions and the timing of retirement is an outcome

of complex and dynamic processes that may not be in line with the

intentions of political reforms.

3,4

For decades, factors motivating older workers to leave the labour

market before the state pension age have been conceptualized as

Push and Pull factors.

Push is defined as involuntary early

retirement, i.e. the worker is being ‘pushed out’, e.g. due to poor

health or mentally stressful or heavy physical work. Pull is triggered

by generous early retirement schemes (financial incentives) or norms

as to when it is appropriate to leave the labour market. These

concepts, however, have been criticized for their inability to

explain social variability in early retirement, e.g. gender differences.

To meet this problem the concept of Jump has been constructed,

referring to values and needs that come from within, e.g. a desire to

travel the world or spend more time with grandchildren or a retired

spouse. In recent years, however, research has increasingly focused

on why a growing segment of older workers continues to work until

or beyond retirement age. This new trend has been conceptualized as

‘need’ and ‘maintain’

resembling the concepts of Stay and Stuck

developed by Snartland and Øverbye in the early 2000s.

Stay refers

to older workers voluntarily prolonging working life due to having a

fulfilling job, good salary, good interpersonal relations with

colleagues and leaders, while Stuck is about prolonging working

life involuntarily because retirement would have negative conse-

quences for their life situation, e.g. cannot afford to retire due to

high fixed costs of living.

In this paper, the concepts of Push, Pull, Jump, Stay and Stuck

(figure 1) are looming in the background as a reference point

regarding factors affecting retirement intentions of older workers.

In this way, understanding factors conditioning retirement

intentions—before actual retirement—may stimulate initiatives in

the society and at workplaces to diminish negative factors and

promote positive factors. Within the framework of Push, Pull,

Jump, Stay and Stuck, existing studies of retirement patterns of

older workers have shown that intentions to retire are conditioned

by the work environment, including physical work demands and

psychosocial work conditions,

9–16

health and subjective life expect-

ancy,

gender,

marital status, i.e. spouses may coordinate retire-

ment,

economic incentives and norms embedded in public

pension systems,

burn-out and life dissatisfaction

and a

preference for more leisure time to be used for a new ‘life project’

and/or social gains such as spending more time with

grandchildren.

Still, our knowledge about factors conditioning

intentions to retire is far from complete, and this paper will

address two research gaps:

First, studies analysing intentions to retire have been preoccupied

with specific occupational groups, e.g. physicians, practitioners, pro-

fessional workers or civil servants, crude occupational groups, e.g.

class, status or skill level,

or—most studies—older workers on an

aggregate level. In contrast, this paper comprehensively analyses

factors conditioning retirement intentions as well as differences in

tribution in the European countries—as well as in most parts of

ue to declining birth rates and increasing lifespan, the age-dis-

BEU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (2. samling) - Bilag 52: Videnskabelig artikel om tilbagetrækning blandt beskæftigede lønmodtagere i jobgrupper med stillesiddende arbejde og fysisk aktivt arbejde, fra beskæftigelseministeren

European Journal of Public Health

Figure 1

The concepts of Push, Pull, Jump, Stuck and Stay in relation

to early/late voluntary/involuntary withdrawal. Early withdrawal

from the labour market can be involuntary (Push) or voluntary

(Jump, Pull). Late withdrawal can be involuntary (Stuck) or

voluntary (Stay)

professional groups, each containing a number of closely related work

functions. The skill requirements in each ISCO group range from I

(most basic) to IV (most advanced). For this study, we used the first-

level ISCO groups: (i)

Managers

(levels III and IV skill requirement),

(ii)

Professionals

(level IV skill requirement), (iii)

Technicians and

Associate Professionals

(level III skill requirement), (iv)

Clerical

Support Workers

(level II skill requirement), (v)

Services and

Sales Workers

(level II skill requirement), (vi)

Skilled Agricultural,

Forestry and Fishery Workers

(level II skill requirement), (vii)

Craft

and Related Trades Workers

(level II skill requirement), (viii)

Plant

and Machine Operators and Assemblers

(level II skill requirement),

(ix)

Elementary Occupations

(level I skill requirement). Armed

Forces Occupations is also an ISCO group (group 0), but were

excluded in the present analyses due to a low number of observations.

Based on questionnaire replies about the physical work characteristics

from each respondent of this study, the majority of ISCO groups 1–4

has seated work (76%, 57%, 74% and 75%, respectively), and the

majority of ISCO groups 5–9 has physical work (86%, 83%, 89%,

72% and 89%, respectively). For the main analyses of this study, we

therefore combined these respective ISCO groups, but detailed results

from the nine distinct ISCO groups are provided in

Supplementary

Appendix

S1.

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retirement intentions among nine different occupational groups.

Second, the paper does not only consider factors conditioning

retirement intentions, it also analyses factors that could potentially

change such intentions and prolong working life.

The aim of addressing these research gaps is to qualify the debate

about barriers and opportunities for prolonging working life across

different occupational groups. The analyses use representative data

from Danish employed individuals aged +50 years.

Questionnaire

First, participants were asked about their expected retirement age.

Next, participants replied to two main multiple-choice questionnaire

batteries concerning (i) factors conditioning retirement intentions

and (ii) factors that might encourage continuing working beyond

the expected retirement age.

The questionnaire regarding factors conditioning retirement

intentions contained 15 multiple-choice response options—

provided in random order—with regard to expected factors that

might cause the respondents to leave the labour market. (i)

Push:

poor physical and mental health; failure to thrive in the workplace;

termination of employment relation; wish from employer; no longer

capable of working; no longer able to cope with work demands; to

make space for younger staff. (ii)

Pull:

retirement norms; economic

considerations, including access to early retirement or pension

benefits; generous retirement benefit scheme at the workplace.

(iii)

Jump:

wish from spouse; wish for more self-determination;

wish for more time to leisure activities. The questions were

inspired by The Danish Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

The

option ‘none of the above’ was given at the bottom of the

multiple-choice questions as the 16th option.

For possible reasons to stay longer, 15 multiple-choice response

options were given in random order for each respondent.

Respondents were asked whether they would be willing to prolong

working life beyond intentions, if certain conditions were fulfilled.

(i)

Stay:

if there were more flexible working hours, longer vacations

or more senior days, if there were a higher level of recognition and

influence at work, if there were more challenges at work, if there

were support from the spouse, if there were better possibilities for

continuing education, if the work were less strenuous, if health were

better. The last two options can also be viewed as ‘suppression of

Push’, i.e. indirectly promoting Stay. The questions were inspired by

The Danish Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

The option ‘none of the

above’ was given at the bottom of the multiple-choice questions as

the 16th option.

Methods

Study design

The questionnaire survey was sent out in July 2018 and terminated

in October 2018. To increase transparency, the study is registered as

a cohort study in ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT03634410) and

the open-access protocol is published elsewhere.

This article

reports the first findings based on the baseline questionnaire, i.e.

as a cross-sectional study design. The first longitudinal follow-up

is expected in 2020 or 2021. For the baseline, a total of 30 000

Danes

years (18 000 employed, 7000 unemployed, 3000 on

voluntary early retirement, 2000 on disability pension) were drawn

as a probability sample by Statistics Denmark and invited with a

personal questionnaire-link via e-Boks (online digital mailbox linked

to the Danish social security number) to participate. The survey data

were merged with high-quality national registers through the unique

social security number assigned to all Danish residents at birth or

immigration. For the present analyses, only currently employed wage

earners belonging to International Standard Classification of

Occupations (ISCO) groups 1–9 were included. Among those who

were employed the response percentage to the entire questionnaire

was 56%, but for the present analyses those replying only partly were

included as well, yielding a total sample size of 11 444 employed

individuals. Table 1 shows descriptive characteristics of the sample.

Subgroups of the study population

Based on national registers, respondents were stratified into nine oc-

cupational groups based on the official Danish version of the ISCO.

The International Labour Organization is responsible for the ISCO,

which was updated in 2008.

The Danish version of ISCO is a six-

digit classification, structured as a five-level hierarchical structure

based on information from high-quality national registers at

Statistics Denmark, and divides the Danish labour market into 563

Statistics

The SurveyFreq procedure (SAS version 9.4) was used to produce

estimates of prevalence and 95% confidence intervals. The

SurveyLogistic procedure (SAS version 9.4) was used to produce

odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals for chance of

choosing each different option of the multiple-choice question-

naires. In contrast to the ‘normal’ frequency and logistic

The SeniorWorkingLife study

Table 1

Demographics, lifestyle, health and work in ISCO groups 1–4 (mainly seated work) and 5–9 (mainly physical work), respectively

ISCO 1–4 (mainly seated work)

Men

n =

3498

Age (mean)

Smoking (% yes)

Alcohol (% men >14 and % women >7 per week)

Height, cm (mean)

Weight, kg (mean)

BMI (mean)

Physical activity leisure (%)

Seated

Light exercise at least 4 h

Sports or heavy physical activity at least 4 h per week

Training and competing regularly and several times a week

Physical activity work (%)

Seated

Standing or walking

Standing or walking with a lot of lifting or carrying

Heavy or fast work that is physically strenuous

Weekly working hours (mean)

Expected retirement age (mean)

56.9

181.3

87.6

26.6

41.0

67.5

(5.8)

(13–15)

(15–17)

(7.4)

(15.5)

(4.3)

(9–12)

(53–57)

(29–33)

(3–5)

(68–71)

(20–23)

(7–9)

(1–2)

(9.1)

(5.0)

Women

n =

3899

56.2

168.1

71.8

25.4

37.3

66.2

(4.9)

(13–16)

(17–19)

(6.5)

(15.8)

(5.0)

(11–14)

(65–69)

(19–21)

(0–1)

(62–65)

(24–28)

(8–10)

(1–2)

(7.6)

(3.5)

ISCO 5–9 (mainly physical work)

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Men

n =

2600

56.9

179.7

88.7

27.4

39.1

66.8

(5.5)

(24–28)

(10–13)

(7.9)

(17.5)

(4.8)

(17–21)

(56–61)

(18–22)

(1–3)

(17–21)

(22–26)

(40–45)

(12–16)

(10.1)

(4.4)

Women

n =

1447

56.2

166.6

72.2

26.0

35.0

65.7

(4.5)

(24–29)

(8–11)

(7.1)

(17.3)

(5.8)

(17–22)

(63–69)

(11–15)

(0–2)

(8–12)

(20–25)

(49–55)

(13–17)

(7.4)

(3.0)

Results are either mean (SD) or prevalence as percentage (95% CI).

procedures of SAS, the survey procedures take into account

sampling clusters and strata.

The analyses were controlled for

age, sex and ISCO group. For sex, men were used as reference, i.e.

ORs for women. For ISCO, groups 1–4 (mainly seated work) was

used as reference, i.e. ORs for groups 5–9 (mainly physical work).

Due to the different size and response percentage of subgroups,

model-assisted weights were used to produce representative

estimates. These weights were used for both the SurveyFreq and

SurveyLogistic procedures and were based on information from

high-quality national registers at Statistics Denmark, and took into

account sex, age, occupational industry, highest completed

education, family income, family type and origin.

better health (OR 2.37) were important reasons for ISCO 5–9. For

the women compared with the men, more senior days, and less

physically and mentally demanding work were also important.

Overall, only few of the respondents selected changes and

challenges at work, continued education and external factors as

important possible reasons for staying longer. About 1/5 did not

indicate any possible reasons for staying longer.

Detailed results for each of the nine ISCO groups are provided in

Supplementary Appendix

S1 (online only).

Discussion

This study showed that there were several factors conditioning

retirement intentions among older workers and that these differed

between occupational groups, most pronounced between those with

seated vs. physical work.

Overall, Jump factors were the most important factors affecting

retirement intentions. However, when scrutinizing the different

occupation groups, Jump factors were most dominant among

ISCO groups 1–4. Common for these groups is that they either

require high skill levels (ISCO groups 1–3) and/or are predomin-

antly seated work (ISCO groups 1–4). A high proportion of these

also replied that they would stay longer if there were possibilities for

more senior days, longer vacations and more flexible working hours

fitting their needs (Stay factors). This fits well with a recent scoping

review indicating that flexible working conditions and additional

days off can act as Stay factors.

Thus, promoting Stay factors

among ISCO groups 1–4 may suppress Jump factors to an extent

that retirement intentions are changed towards a longer working life.

In contrast to the first ISCO groups, ISCO groups 5–9 are

characterized by physical work, e.g. standing, walking, lifting,

using the legs, back, neck, shoulders and arms. When replying to

the questions regarding factors conditioning retirement intentions,

the balance between Jump and Push factors shifted, i.e. poor physical

health and not being capable of doing the work—i.e. Push factors—

were just generally as important as the desire for more leisure time.

Thus, when Push factors are strong, Jump factors may be

suppressed. In a broader view, this fits with basic evolutionary

principles of survival, where removal of danger has priority over

self-realization. However, when asked about possible reasons for

staying longer at the labour market, many in ISCO groups 5–9

would stay longer if the work were less physically strenuous. Thus,

Results

Table 1 is descriptive and shows the background variables of the

population. Average age was 56–57 years in the different groups of

the study. The expected retirement age was about half a year higher

in ISCO groups 1–4 than in 5–9, and about 1 year higher in men

than in women.

Table 2 shows prevalence and ORs of expected reasons for leaving

the labour market. Leisure time was a general important reason, but

much less pronounced among ISCO 5–9 than 1–4 (OR 0.44–0.48).

In contrast, poor physical health (OR 2.06) and not being capable of

doing the job (OR 1.68) were much more pronounced reasons

among ISCO 5–9 than 1–4. Economy and retirement considerations

were also generally important, but general economic considerations

and good retirement conditions were more important for ISCO 1–4,

while the possibility for early voluntary retirement pension was more

important for ISCO 5–9. Differences between men and women were

not as pronounced as between the ISCO groups, except the possi-

bility for early voluntary retirement pension, which was much more

pronounced among women than men (OR 2.28). Although we

observed significant differences in terms of ORs for some of the

other factors, the prevalence of these were generally low.

Table 3 shows prevalence and ORs of possible reasons for staying

longer at the labour market. More leisure time (senior days and

vacations) were overall important reasons, but to less extent

among ISCO 5–9 than 1–4 (OR 0.40–0.52). Flexibility of working

time was also more important among ISCO 1–4. Encouragement

from the management was also important among men in ISCO 1–

4. In contrast, lowering of physical work demands (OR 5.32) and

European Journal of Public Health

Table 2

Expected reasons for leaving the labour market among men and women in ISCO groups 1–4 and 5–9, respectively, provided as

prevalence and 95% confidence intervals

ISCO 1–4 (mainly

seated work)

Men

= 3466

Leisure

That you want do determine yourself what you want

to do

To have more time for hobbies

Health, work demands and well-being

That you will not be capable of doing your job

Poor physical health

That you do not thrive at the workplace

Poor mental health

Economy and retirement considerations

Possibility of receiving pension

Economic considerations

Possibility of receiving voluntary early retirement

pension

Good retirement conditions at the workplace

Norms

It is common to leave at that age in your type of work

To make space for younger employees

External factors

Wish from spouse

Termination of employment

At the request of the workplace

None of the above

ISCO 5–9 (mainly

physical work)

Men

= 2580

Women

= 1439

ISCO 5–9 vs. 1–4

Women vs. men

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Women

= 3867

56 (54–58)

50 (48–52)

(18–21)

(12–14)

(10–12)

(5–7)

55 (53–56)

49 (47–51)

(23–26)

(14–16)

(8–10)

(5–6)

39 (36–41)

34 (32–36)

(25–29)

(23–27)

(6–8)

(4–6)

32 (29–34)

29 (26–32)

(34–39)

(23–28)

(4–7)

(3–5)

0.44 (0.40–0.49)

0.48 (0.43–0.52)

1.68

2.06

0.58

0.77

(1.51–1.86)

(1.84–2.30)

(0.49–0.69)

(0.63–0.95)

0.87 (0.79–0.94)

0.89 (0.82–0.97)

1.44

1.13

0.85

0.87

(1.30–1.59)

(1.01–1.26)

(0.73–0.98)

(0.72–1.05)

30 (28–32)

26 (24–28)

11 (9–12)

9 (8–10)

11 (10–13)

10 (9–11)

(9–11)

(5–7)

(3–5)

28 (27–30)

23 (21–24)

25 (23–26)

6 (6–7)

12 (11–13)

10 (9–11)

(6–8)

(3–4)

(2–3)

(2–4)

25 (23–27)

14 (13–16)

20 (18–22)

5 (4–6)

9 (8–10)

13 (11–14)

(4–6)

(3–4)

(1–2)

(3–5)

23 (20–25)

10 (8–12)

32 (29–34)

2 (1–3)

9 (8–11)

12 (10–14)

(2–4)

(1–3)

(1–2)

(2–4)

0.77 (0.69–0.85)

0.43 (0.38–0.49)

1.69 (1.52–1.89)

0.48 (0.39–0.59)

0.77 (0.67–0.90)

1.31 (1.13–1.51)

0.46

0.51

0.42

0.97

(0.38–0.57)

(0.40–0.65)

(0.30–0.59)

(0.76–1.24)

0.91 (0.83–1.01)

0.79 (0.71–0.88)

2.28 (2.05–2.54)

0.65 (0.55–0.77)

1.04 (0.91–1.19)

0.98 (0.85–1.12)

0.65

0.57

0.58

0.75

(0.55–0.77)

(0.46–0.70)

(0.44–0.77)

(0.59–0.94)

ORs for ISCO groups 5–9 (ref: 1–4) and women (ref: men) are provided in the last two columns.

Controlled for ISCO group, sex and age.

Table 3

Possible reasons for staying longer at the labour market among men and women in ISCO groups 1–4 and 5–9, respectively, provided

as prevalence and 95% confidence intervals

ISCO 1–4 (mainly

seated work)

Men

= 3452

Leisure

If there were more senior days

If there were a possibility for longer vacations

Flexibility

If the working time were better organized according

to your needs

Economy

If it would pay better off economically

Physical and mental work demands

If your health had been better

If the work were less physically strenuous

If the work were less mentally strenuous

Recognition and influence at work

If the management wanted you to stay longer

If your work were appreciated to a higher extent

If you got more influence on planning the work

Changes and challenges at work

If there were less demands for adaptation and change

If there were greater professional challenges

Education

If your opportunities for continuing education were

better

If you got a paid educational course to take care of

another job (not necessarily at the same workplace)

External factors

If there were support from spouse/cohabitant/partner

None of the above

ISCO 5–9 (mainly

physical work)

Men

= 2573

Women

= 1435

ISCO 5–9 vs. 1–4

Women vs. men

Women

= 3849

43 (41–45)

34 (32–36)

38 (37–40)

51 (50–53)

35 (33–37)

41 (39–43)

30 (28–32)

19 (17–20)

24 (22–26)

33 (31–36)

16 (14–18)

25 (22–28)

0.52 (0.48–0.57)

0.40 (0.36–0.45)

0.49 (0.44–0.54)

1.31 (1.20–1.43)

0.97 (0.89–1.07)

1.10 (1.01–1.20)

33 (31–34)

11 (10–12)

6 (5–7)

15 (13–16)

23 (21–24)

12 (11–13)

14 (13–15)

11 (10–12)

7 (6–8)

6 (5–7)

27 (25–28)

10 (9–12)

9 (8–10)

20 (19–22)

15 (14–16)

13 (12–14)

13 (12–15)

16 (15–17)

4 (3–5)

7 (6–7)

6 (6–7)

29 (27–31)

22 (21–24)

25 (23–27)

9 (7–10)

11 (9–12)

9 (7–10)

6 (4–7)

3 (2–4)

6 (5–7)

24 (22–27)

22 (20–24)

36 (34–39)

14 (12–16)

5 (4–6)

12 (10–14)

9 (7–11)

9 (7–10)

3 (2–4)

4 (3–5)

6 (5–8)

0.86 (0.78–0.95)

2.37 (2.09–2.68)

5.32 (4.67–6.06)

0.60 (0.52–0.69)

0.36 (0.32–0.42)

0.91 (0.79–1.04)

0.61 (0.52–0.70)

0.48 (0.41–0.57)

0.44 (0.34–0.56)

0.54 (0.43–0.68)

0.93 (0.77–1.12)

0.76 (0.69–0.84)

0.96 (0.85–1.09)

1.62 (1.43–1.84)

1.52 (1.35–1.72)

0.55 (0.49–0.62)

1.11 (0.97–1.26)

0.99 (0.87–1.13)

1.53 (1.33–1.75)

0.60 (0.48–0.73)

1.14 (0.95–1.39)

1.09 (0.91–1.30)

10 (9–11)

19 (17–20)

4 (3–5)

19 (18–21)

5 (4–6)

19 (17–21)

2 (1–3)

21 (19–24)

0.44 (0.36–0.55)

1.07 (0.96–1.20)

0.37 (0.30–0.45)

1.09 (0.98–1.21)

ORs for ISCO groups 5–9 (ref: 1–4) and women (ref: men) are provided in the last two columns.

Controlled for ISCO group, sex and age.

The SeniorWorkingLife study

workers on the edge of being pushed out due to strenuous physical

work are positive about staying longer if the work could be made less

physically strenuous. In other words, suppressing Push may

indirectly promote Stay. At the societal level, this may be achieved

through better opportunities for changing occupation and/or job

function, e.g. mediated through paid education and vocational

training. At the workplace level, this may be achieved through

better use of assistive devices and/or changing to less strenuously

job functions. At the individual level, this may be achieved through

physical training to strengthen the body, preferably performed

together with the colleagues at the workplace to achieve high adher-

ence.

Thus, evidence synthesis from systematic reviews provides

clear evidence that strength training at the workplace improves

physical health of workers.

30–32

Although the differences in factors conditioning retirement

intentions were most pronounced between ISCO groups 1–4 and

5–9, there were also some differences between men and women.

This was most clear in relation to the demands of the job. Thus,

not being capable of doing the job was an expected reason for

retiring among 27% and 37% of the men and women in ISCO

groups 5–9, respectively (OR 1.44). This was also reflected in

possible reasons for later retirement, where 25% and 36% of the

men and women in ISCO groups 5–9, respectively (OR 1.62),

would stay longer if the work were less physically demanding.

Although this study deals with factors conditioning retirement

intentions, the results fits well with a recent Nordic research

project, showing that women with short education and physically

demanding work are especially vulnerable to being pushed out of the

labour market due to poor health.

While there may be several

reasons for this gender difference, a physiological explanation may

be that men generally have a higher physical capacity—in terms of

muscle strength—than women. Thus, when physical capacity

inherently declines with age this may challenge the physical reserve

capacity—i.e. the difference between physical work demands and

physical capacity of the worker—especially of the women. Another

explanation may be rooted in the vertical and horizontal gender

division of labour. This constitutes differences in the working

conditions between men and women, leaving women with

relatively heavy work tasks compared with the men (repetitive

work tasks; heavy lifting in the care sector, etc.). However, even

when men and women are engaged in the same work task, females

run a higher risk than males of work-related musculoskeletal dis-

orders,

suggesting that physiological factors may at least be part of

the explanation.

Pull factors were also at play. The option of receiving pension at a

certain age was chosen as a common expected reason for retiring,

although more dominant among ISCO groups 1–4 than 5–9. In

contrast, the possibility of receiving early voluntary retirement

pension (i.e. before the official retirement age), was more

common among ISCO groups 5–9 (OR 1.69). Likewise, this was

more common among women than men (OR 2.28). A previous

Nordic study showed that early voluntary retirement is utilized to

a higher extent among those with physically demanding work,

and

can be seen as a way out of the labour market if the Push factors are

strong, e.g. if the work is physically demanding.

Although not the main focus of this study, economic consider-

ations were a common expected reason for retiring as well as a

possible reason for staying longer at the labour market. A previous

study from the US showed that older workers felt encouraged to stay

longer if the workplace provided economic benefits like paid

healthcare.

It can be speculated that personal economy may act

both as Pull, Stuck and Stay factors, i.e. the worker may be (i) pulled

out due to an attractive retirement scheme, (ii) stuck at the labour

market because the personal economy does not allow one to retire in

spite of poor health, (iii) tempted to stay longer and thereby gain

further income and pension savings. Many replied that they would

consider staying longer if it would pay better off economically,

although this was more dominant among ISCO groups 1–4 and

men. Thus, economic incentives may one of the tools to prolong

working lives. However, future studies should investigate this in

more depth.

Finally, there were also some underappreciated factors. Only a few

respondents indicated that they would consider staying longer if

there were less demands for changes, more challenges at work,

continued education and support from a spouse. About 1/5 did

not indicate any possible reasons for staying longer, which

indicates that some people have already made a decision about

their retirement age.

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Strengths and limitations

The SeniorWorkingLife study has both limitations and strengths. A

strength is that Statistics Denmark drew a probability sample among

all eligible Danish residents age 50 years or older. As in all question-

naire studies, non-response is a study limitation. To account for this,

all analyses were performed using statistical weights based on high-

quality national registers. This procedure ensures that data are rep-

resentative of +50-year workers in Denmark. Using ISCO to stratify

groups is a study strength as it is an internationally accepted way to

group occupations into professional groups containing a number of

closely related work functions. The Danish version of ISCO is based

on objective and high-quality register information from Statistics

Denmark and is therefore highly reliable. Compared with other

types of groupings, e.g. socioeconomic class, ISCO is a better

predictor of health outcomes.

Finally, we studied factors condi-

tioning retirement intention, and not actual retirement. Thus, a

prospective follow-up to determine the influence of these condi-

tional factors on actual retirement will be performed during the

years to come. Based on the present findings it can be hypothesized

that retirement intentions will be prospectively associated with

actual retirement in the years to come.

Conclusion

This study has shown that Push, Pull and Jump factors have a major

impact on retirement intentions of older workers. As such, to

prolong working life, i.e. to turn Push, Pull and Jump into Stay,

calls for measures encouraging older workers to work longer. Such

measures, however, should be targeted and designed to fit different

characteristics and needs of different occupational groups. To avoid

that those with physical work (mainly ISCO groups 5–9) are being

pushed out, there seem to be an opportunity to prolonging working

lives by fitting the physical work demands to the workers capacity

and health condition, i.e. diminishing the Push factors. In contrast,

among those where the Push factors are not so dominant—i.e.

among those with more seated work (mainly ISCO groups 1–4)—

an opportunity could be to stimulate Stay factors to overrule the

Jump factors, e.g. by making the work so engaging that the worker

chooses not to retire. Economic incentives for staying longer than

normal retirement age may also be considered across occupational

groups. Finally, prolonging working life should not focus only about

maximizing years at the labour market, but also ensure that workers

can retire in good health and be able to enjoy the years after

retirement.

Supplementary data

are available at

EURPUB

online.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for important discussions and input during

the development of the study to the many people from Aalborg

University, Team Arbejdsliv, National Research Centre for the

Working Environment, Statistics Denmark, as well as to the

members of the Advisory Board.

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Availability of data and material

The authors encourage collaboration and use of the data by other

researchers. Data are stored on the server of Statistics Denmark, and

researchers interested in using the data for scientific purposes should

contact the project leader Prof. Lars L. Andersen, [email protected], who is

responsible for the study design, questionnaire development,

definition of population, and data collection.

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/eurpub/ckz146/5556359 by Faculty of Life Sciences Library user on 03 September 2019

Funding

This study was supported by a grant from the Danish foundation

TrygFonden.

Conflicts of interest:

None declared.

Key points

Most European countries are increasing statutory retirement

age, but this may run counter to abilities and wishes of older

workers.

In occupations with seated work, many would stay longer at

the labour market if there were better possibilities for

additional senior days, longer vacations and flexible

working hours.

In occupations with physical work, many would stay longer

if the work were less physically demanding and there were

more senior days.

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