Determinants of early employment exit and working until the statutory retirement age in poor health among workers with strenuous physical or mental work.

Purpose: This study examines, among older workers with strenuous physical or mental work, the longitudinal associations between sociodemographic, work, personal, and health factors and working until the statutory retirement age categorized as working in good health, working in poor health, and employment exit before the retirement age.

Methods: The study was embedded in the Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability and Motivation (STREAM) from the Netherlands. The sample consists of participants who, at any wave, were working at age 60 and for whom it was clear if and how they exited employment (n = 3969). Multinomial regression analyses were performed to examine the association between sociodemographic, work, personal, and health factors and working until the retirement age, separately for those with strenuous physical (n=658 (16.6%)) and mental work (n = 470 (11.8%)).

Results: Higher mastery was associated with lower odds of working until retirement in poor health and employment exit in those with strenuous physical or mental work. Sickness absence and a poor financial situation were associated with employment exit. Only in those with strenuous physical work, sickness absence was also associated with working until retirement in poor health. Obesity was associated with higher odds of working until retirement in poor health.

Conclusions: Workers with strenuous work more often work until retirement in poor health and exit employment more often than those without strenuous work. Health, mastery and workers' financial situation play a major role in whether workers can work until the statutory retirement age, and whether this is in good health.