24 June 08 – Life-course Events and Later-life employment

Much is already known about how later-life factors and events affect when people exit work. Important determinants of labour market withdrawal include health and disability, individual pension savings and pension entitlements, and job characteristics such as physical strains and job autonomy. Less is known about how earlier life-course events, such as educational achievement, labour market entry and family formation, also affect employment in later life.

The purpose of this study was to investigate these relationships, using two sources of longitudinal data: the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the ONS Longitudinal Study (LS). The study estimates the direct effect of early life-course events on later-life employment, and also investigates how early-life factors act indirectly through their influence on later events.

Key findings

• There is no association between a woman’s later life employment and her parental background. But there is an association between a man’s later life employment and his father’s occupational class. Men whose fathers were in management or professional jobs have higher employment rates, largely because they have better educational attainments. The sons of routine non-manual workers or the self-employed are also more likely to be employed later in life, but this effect cannot be explained by educational achievement or subsequent life factors like occupation and later life health.
• Better education is associated with higher employment rates and fewer transitions out of employment in later life. The important distinction is between having no qualifications and having qualifications of O-level or greater.
• The effects of education are particularly strong among women and they are only partially eliminated after controlling for labour market history, family history, job strains and health. For women under 55, having qualifications is associated with about 15 percentage point higher employment probabilities (reducing to around six percentage points for the over 55s).
• Later entry to the labour market is associated with higher employment levels after age 50. A five year delay in entry to employment (up to age 30) is associated with nearly 20 per cent higher employment rates among men and 10 per cent higher rates among women. For women, the age at which they enter employment partly determines their occupation and industry, which in turn affect later employment outcomes.
• Both men and women who form their first partnership at a later age (up to about 25 years) are more likely to be in employment after 50 and less likely to leave employment in a given year. A five year delay in partnership formation is associated with seven to nine percentage point higher employment probabilities.
• More years of employment before 50 are strongly associated with higher levels of employment in later life (by about 20 percentage points among men and 10 points among women for an extra five years of employment). These associations largely remain when controlling for other factors, including current health.
• Men who worked mainly in non-manual occupations are more likely to be in work after 50, while women who were mainly in lesser-skilled occupations are less likely to be employed. Among women, occupational history tends to mediate the effects of previous labour market and family events.
• Being in poor health after 50 is very strongly associated with being out of employment already or with leaving employment. The effects of several earlier life course events are partly mediated by health status. Among men, early entry to the labour market and a lack of continuous employment are related to poor health and hence to lower levels of later-life employment. Among women, their main occupation – rather than employment stability – is associated with later health and hence employment outcomes.

Notes to Editors:

1. ‘Life-course Events and Later-life Employment’ (DWP Research Report number 502) by Morten Blekesaune, Mark Bryan and Mark Taylor from the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) is published today as part of the DWP Research Report series. A copy of the report (and summary of the research) can be downloaded from the Department’s website at http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rrs-index.asp

 

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Prepared by: Department for Work and Pensions Extending Working Life Division