IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujoag/v19y2022i4d10.1007_s10433-022-00707-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Living longer, working longer: analysing time trends in working life expectancy in Germany from a health perspective between 2002 and 2018

Author

Listed:
  • Chiara Heller

    (Hannover Medical School)

  • Stefanie Sperlich

    (Hannover Medical School)

  • Fabian Tetzlaff

    (Hannover Medical School)

  • Siegfried Geyer

    (Hannover Medical School)

  • Jelena Epping

    (Hannover Medical School)

  • Johannes Beller

    (Hannover Medical School)

  • Juliane Tetzlaff

    (Hannover Medical School)

Abstract

Population ageing poses growing challenges to social security systems, in particular to public pension funds. The study analyses how Working Life Expectancy (WLE) and Healthy Working Life Expectancy (HWLE) in terms of three health indicators developed in Germany. Based on the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) from 2002 to 2018 (n = 211,141), time trends in labour force rates, mental and physical Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), self-rated health (SRH) and the respective combinations (health indicator*labour force) were analysed for all respondents aged 18–74. WLE and HWLE were calculated using the Sullivan method. WLE and HWLE in men and women at age 18 and 50 clearly increased over time. These increases in HWLE were found in terms of all three health indicators. This development was mainly driven by the clear increase of the labour force rates, since the shares of individuals with good and satisfactory SRH or average and good HRQoL remained largely stable over time. The results show that from a health perspective there have been potentials for increases in WLE during the past two decades and that increasingly more healthy life years are spent economically active. However, life years in the labour force but in poor health have increased, too. The absence of clear improvements in health emphasises the importance of current and future preventive measures to maintain health, especially among the middle-aged and older labour force.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiara Heller & Stefanie Sperlich & Fabian Tetzlaff & Siegfried Geyer & Jelena Epping & Johannes Beller & Juliane Tetzlaff, 2022. "Living longer, working longer: analysing time trends in working life expectancy in Germany from a health perspective between 2002 and 2018," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1263-1276, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:19:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10433-022-00707-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10433-022-00707-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10433-022-00707-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10433-022-00707-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Agnès Lièvre & Florence Jusot & Thomas Barnay & Nicolas Brouard & Jm Robine & M-A Brieu & Françoise Forette, 2007. "Healthy Working Life Expectancies at age 50 in Europe: a new indicator," Post-Print halshs-01302304, HAL.
    2. Ilmakunnas, Pekka & Ilmakunnas, Seija, 2018. "Health and retirement age: Comparison of expectations and actual retirement," MPRA Paper 102618, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Tisch, Anita, 2015. "Health, work ability and work motivation : determinants of labour market exit among German employees born in 1959 and 1965," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 48(3), pages 233-245.
    4. Christian Dudel & Elke Loichinger & Sebastian Klüsener & Harun Sulak & Mikko Myrskylä, 2021. "The extension of late working life in Germany: trends, inequalities, and the East-West divide," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2021-018, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    5. Juliane Tetzlaff & Denise Muschik & Jelena Epping & Sveja Eberhard & Siegfried Geyer, 2017. "Expansion or compression of multimorbidity? 10-year development of life years spent in multimorbidity based on health insurance claims data of Lower Saxony, Germany," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 62(6), pages 679-686, July.
    6. Stefanie Sperlich & Juliane Tetzlaff & Siegfried Geyer, 2019. "Trends in good self-rated health in Germany between 1995 and 2014: do age and gender matter?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(6), pages 921-933, July.
    7. Tisch, Anita, 2015. "Health, work ability and work motivation : determinants of labour market exit among German employees born in 1959 and 1965," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 48(3), pages 233-245.
    8. Goebel Jan & Grabka Markus M. & Liebig Stefan & Kroh Martin & Richter David & Schröder Carsten & Schupp Jürgen, 2019. "The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 239(2), pages 345-360, April.
    9. repec:dau:papers:123456789/449 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Anita Tisch, 2015. "Health, work ability and work motivation: determinants of labour market exit among German employees born in 1959 and 1965 [Gesundheit, Arbeitsfähigkeit und Arbeitsmotivation: Beweggründe für den Er," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(3), pages 233-245, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Russell, Helen & Maître, Bertrand & Privalko, Ivan, 2019. "The ageing workforce in Ireland: Working conditions, health and extending working lives," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS92.
    2. Lisa Toczek & Richard Peter, 2023. "Investigating the influence of work-related stress on early labour market exit: the role of health," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Poutvaara, Panu & Schikora, Felicitas, 2023. "First time around: Local conditions and multi-dimensional integration of refugees," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    4. Stefanie Sperlich & Frauke-Marie Adler & Johannes Beller & Batoul Safieddine & Juliane Tetzlaff & Fabian Tetzlaff & Siegfried Geyer, 2022. "Getting Better or Getting Worse? A Population-Based Study on Trends in Self-Rated Health among Single Mothers in Germany between 1994 and 2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-13, February.
    5. Stella Martin & Kevin Stabenow & Mark Trede, 2024. "Measurement Error in Earnings," CQE Working Papers 10824, Center for Quantitative Economics (CQE), University of Muenster.
    6. Panarello, Demetrio, 2021. "Economic insecurity, conservatism, and the crisis of environmentalism: 30 years of evidence," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Mathias Huebener & Sevrin Waights & C. Katharina Spiess & Nico A. Siegel & Gert G. Wagner, 2021. "Parental well-being in times of Covid-19 in Germany," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 91-122, March.
    8. Henrik-Alexander Schubert & Christian Dudel & Marina Kolobova & Mikko Myrskylä, 2023. "Revisiting the J-shape: human development and fertility in the United States," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2023-022, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    9. Carina Steckenleiter & Michael Lechner & Tim Pawlowski & Ute Schüttoff, 2023. "Do local expenditures on sports facilities affect sports participation?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(4), pages 1103-1128, October.
    10. Ghazala Azmat & Katja Maria Kaufmann, 2024. "Formation of College Plans: Expected Returns, Preferences, and Adjustment Process," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 669-711.
    11. Caliendo, Marco & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Obst, Cosima & Uhlendorff, Arne, 2023. "Risk preferences and training investments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 668-686.
    12. Alan Manning & Graham Mazeine, 2020. "Subjective job insecurity and the rise of the precariat: evidence from the UK, Germany and the United States," CEP Discussion Papers dp1712, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    13. Fedorets Alexandra & Kirchner Stefan & Adriaans Jule & Giering Oliver, 2022. "Data on Digital Transformation in the German Socio-Economic Panel," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 242(5-6), pages 691-705, December.
    14. Alexander M. Danzer & Carsten Feuerbaum & Marc Piopiunik & Ludger Woessmann, 2022. "Growing up in ethnic enclaves: language proficiency and educational attainment of immigrant children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 1297-1344, July.
    15. Sabine Zinn & Michael Bayer, 2021. "Time Spent on School-Related Activities at Home during the Pandemic: A Longitudinal Analysis of Social Group Inequality among Secondary School Students," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1132, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    16. Tobias Wolf & Maria Metzing & Richard E. Lucas, 2022. "Experienced Well-Being and Labor Market Status: The Role of Pleasure and Meaning," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 691-721, September.
    17. Waitkus, Nora & Minkus, Lara, 2021. "Investigating the gender wealth gap across occupational classes," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108206, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Charlotte Bartels & Carsten Schroeder, 2020. "Income, consumption and wealth inequality in Germany: Three concepts, three stories?," Basic Papers 2, Forum New Economy.
    19. Karla Cordova & Markus M. Grabka & Eva Sierminska, 2022. "Pension Wealth and the Gender Wealth Gap," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(4), pages 755-810, October.
    20. Hudde, Ansgar, 2022. "The unequal cycling boom in Germany," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:19:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10433-022-00707-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.