IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/uto/dipeco/202502.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Working longer, feeling worse? How job quality shapes the mental health toll of delayed retirement

Author

Listed:

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of delayed retirement, induced by pension reforms, on late-career mental health, focusing on working conditions. While studies have analyzed aspects of job quality — such as high-strain roles and automation risk — none have considered the full range of job characteristics shaping workers’ experiences. We address this gap by analyzing six key dimensions of job quality: skills and discretion, working time quality, physical environment, social environment, work intensity, and career prospects. To mitigate endogeneity concerns associated with self- reported mental health measures, we incorporate occupation-level data on working conditions from external sources. Our analysis leverages pension reforms enacted between 2011 and 2015 in 14 European countries, integrating data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe with job quality measures from the European Working Conditions Survey. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we estimate the causal impact of extended work horizons on depression while accounting for cross-country differences in labor markets and pension systems. Our findings confirm that, on average, delaying retirement negatively affects older workers' mental health. However, the magnitude of this impact varies significantly depending on job quality. Workers in unsupportive social environments, precarious jobs with limited career prospects, or roles with low autonomy and high intensity exhibit the highest increases in depression. In contrast, those in supportive workplaces, stable jobs, and high-autonomy roles experience milder negative effects or even mental health benefits. To ensure pension reforms do not adversely affect workers’ well-being, they should be complemented by labor market policies that promote sustainable working conditions, job adaptability, and lifelong learning.

Suggested Citation

  • Lugova, Alexandra & Belloni, Michele & Legendre, Bérangère & Tanguy, Jeremy, "undated". "Working longer, feeling worse? How job quality shapes the mental health toll of delayed retirement," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202502, University of Turin.
  • Handle: RePEc:uto:dipeco:202502
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2025dip/wp_02_2025.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andries De Grip & Maarten Lindeboom & Raymond Montizaan, 2012. "Shattered Dreams: The Effects of Changing the Pension System Late in the Game," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(559), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Eve Caroli & Catherine Pollak & Muriel Roger, 2023. "The Health-Consumption Effects of Increasing Retirement Age Late in the Game," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 538, pages 49-67.
    3. Bertoni, Marco & Brunello, Giorgio & Mazzarella, Gianluca, 2018. "Does postponing minimum retirement age improve healthy behaviors before retirement? Evidence from middle-aged Italian workers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 215-227.
    4. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1733-1749, April.
    5. Ludovico Carrino & Karen Glaser & Mauricio Avendano, 2020. "Later retirement, job strain, and health: Evidence from the new State Pension age in the United Kingdom," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(8), pages 891-912, August.
    6. Bertoni, Marco & Celidoni, Martina & Dal Bianco, Chiara & Weber, Guglielmo, 2021. "How did European retirees respond to the COVID-19 pandemic?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    7. Mattia Filomena & Matteo Picchio, 2023. "Retirement and health outcomes in a meta‐analytical framework," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1120-1155, September.
    8. Giorgio Brunello & Maria Paola & Lorenzo Rocco, 2025. "Pension reforms, longer working horizons, and absence from work," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-26, March.
    9. Belloni, Michele & Carrino, Ludovico & Meschi, Elena, 2022. "The impact of working conditions on mental health: Novel evidence from the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Bertoni, Marco & Brunello, Giorgio & Da Re, Filippo, 2023. "Pension reforms, longer working horizons and depression. Does the risk of automation matter?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    11. Charles, Kerwin Kofi & DeCicca, Philip, 2008. "Local labor market fluctuations and health: Is there a connection and for whom?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1532-1550, December.
    12. Elena Cottini & Paolo Ghinetti, 2018. "Employment insecurity and employees' health in Denmark," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 426-439, February.
    13. Bubonya, Melisa & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Wooden, Mark, 2017. "Mental health and productivity at work: Does what you do matter?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 150-165.
    14. Thomas Barnay, 2016. "Health, work and working conditions: a review of the European economic literature," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(6), pages 693-709, July.
    15. Raquel Fonseca & Arie Kapteyn & Jinkook Lee & Gema Zamarro, 2015. "Does Retirement Make You Happy? A Simultaneous Equations Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Insights in the Economics of Aging, pages 339-372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Kirill Borusyak & Xavier Jaravel & Jann Spiess, 2024. "Revisiting Event-Study Designs: Robust and Efficient Estimation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(6), pages 3253-3285.
    17. Frijters, Paul & Beatton, Tony, 2012. "The mystery of the U-shaped relationship between happiness and age," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 525-542.
    18. Eibich, Peter, 2015. "Understanding the Effect of Retirement on Health: Mechanisms and Heterogeneity," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 43, pages 1-12.
    19. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    20. Clémentine Garrouste & Elsa Perdrix, 2022. "Is there a consensus on the health consequences of retirement? A literature review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 841-879, September.
    21. Golo Henseke, 2018. "Good jobs, good pay, better health? The effects of job quality on health among older European workers," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(1), pages 59-73, January.
    22. Coad, Alex & Binder, Martin, 2014. "Causal linkages between work and life satisfaction and their determinants in a structural VAR approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 263-268.
    23. Andrew Goodman-Bacon, 2018. "Difference-in-Differences with Variation in Treatment Timing," NBER Working Papers 25018, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Doruk Cengiz & Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner & Ben Zipperer, 2019. "The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1405-1454.
    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. Bertoni, Marco & Brunello, Giorgio & Da Re, Filippo, 2023. "Pension reforms, longer working horizons and depression. Does the risk of automation matter?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Ludovico Carrino & Karen Glaser & Mauricio Avendano, 2020. "Later retirement, job strain, and health: Evidence from the new State Pension age in the United Kingdom," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(8), pages 891-912, August.
    3. Manuel Serrano‐Alarcón & Chiara Ardito & Roberto Leombruni & Alexander Kentikelenis & Angelo d’Errico & Anna Odone & Giuseppe Costa & David Stuckler & IWGRH, 2023. "Health and labor market effects of an unanticipated rise in retirement age. Evidence from the 2012 Italian pension reform," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2745-2767, December.
    4. Carrino, Ludovico & Glaser, Karen & Avendano, Mauricio, 2018. "Later Pension, Poorer Health? Evidence from the New State Pension Age in the UK," MPRA Paper 87575, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Florin Cornel DUMITER & Ștefania Amalia NICOARĂ & Marius BOIȚĂ & Erika LOUČANOVÁ & Katarina Repkova STOFKOVA, 2024. "Empirical Study Regarding the Central and Eastern European Countries’ Soundness of Pension Systems. Triangle Assessment: Social, Economic, and Financial Features of Pension Systems," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(4), pages 105-127, December.
    6. Eve Caroli & Catherine Pollak & Muriel Roger, 2023. "The Health-Consumption Effects of Increasing Retirement Age Late in the Game," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 538, pages 49-67.
    7. Leimer, Birgit & van Ewijk, Reyn, 2022. "No “honeymoon phase”: whose health benefits from retirement and when," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    8. Mattia Filomena & Matteo Picchio, 2023. "Retirement and health outcomes in a meta‐analytical framework," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1120-1155, September.
    9. Antonin Bergeaud & Clement Malgouyres & Clement Mazet-Sonilhac & Sara Signorelli, 2021. "Technological change and domestic outsourcing," CEP Discussion Papers dp1784, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    10. Nocito, Samuel & Sartarelli, Marcello & Sobbrio, Francesco, 2023. "A beam of light: Media, tourism and economic development," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    11. Shusen Qi & Ralph De Haas & Steven Ongena & Stefan Straetmans & Tamas Vadasz, 2024. "Move a little closer? Information sharing and the spatial clustering of bank branches," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 28(6), pages 1881-1918.
    12. Pedron, Sara & Maier, Werner & Peters, Annette & Linkohr, Birgit & Meisinger, Christine & Rathmann, Wolfgang & Eibich, Peter & Schwettmann, Lars, 2020. "The effect of retirement on biomedical and behavioral risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic disease," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    13. Dami'an Vergara, 2022. "Minimum Wages and Optimal Redistribution," Papers 2202.00839, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2022.
    14. Balia, S.; & Brau, R.; & Pau, S.;, 2025. "One plus one makes less than two? Consolidation policies and mortality in the Italian NHS," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 25/02, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. Mohamed Ali Ben Halima & Camille Ciriez & Malik Koubi & Ali Skalli, 2021. "Retarder l’âge d’ouverture des droits à la retraite provoque-t-il un déversement de l’assurance-retraite vers l’assurance-maladie ? L’effet de la réforme des retraites de 2010 sur l’absence-maladie," TEPP Research Report 2021-13, TEPP.
    16. Georgic, Will & Klaiber, H. Allen, 2022. "Stocks, flows, and flood insurance: A nationwide analysis of the capitalized impact of annual premium discounts on housing values," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    17. Joop Age Harm Adema & Cevat Giray Aksoy & Panu Poutvaara, 2021. "Mobile Internet Access and the Desire to Emigrate," ifo Working Paper Series 365, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    18. Abouk, Rahi & Courtemanche, Charles & Dave, Dhaval & Feng, Bo & Friedman, Abigail S. & Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Pesko, Michael F. & Sabia, Joseph J. & Safford, Samuel, 2023. "Intended and unintended effects of e-cigarette taxes on youth tobacco use," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    19. Bertoni, Marco & Brunello, Giorgio & Mazzarella, Gianluca, 2018. "Does postponing minimum retirement age improve healthy behaviors before retirement? Evidence from middle-aged Italian workers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 215-227.
    20. López Artero, Javier Adrián & Sanz-de-Galdeano, Anna & Vuri, Daniela, 2025. "When the Going Gets Tough: The Impact of Health Shocks on Divorce," IZA Discussion Papers 17849, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:uto:dipeco:202502. 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: Laura Ballestra or Cinzia Carlevaris (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/detorit.html .

    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.