Life expectancy outpacing healthy working life span in England – study
Experts say their findings highlight the need to identify measures to help promote a healthy working lifespan.
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Your support makes all the difference.The number of years people can expect to spend in good health when they are able to work is not rising as fast as total lifespan, new research suggests.
Experts say that although people are living longer, the time that older people spend in good health and are able to work has not necessarily increased at the same rate.
The state pension age in the UK and in several European countries is set to rise in line with projected increases in life expectancy.
But experts say their findings highlight the need for action to keep people healthy if they want to continue working.
According to the study, life expectancy gains from the age of 50 will average 10.7 weeks and 6.4 weeks per year for men and women respectively between 2015 and 2035.
However, gains in healthy working life expectancy are projected to average only one week for men and 2.8 weeks for women per year during this same period.
Waiting for longer to receive a state pension is unlikely to be made easier by additional healthy working years
Marty Lynch, from Keele University and colleagues used data collected between 1996 and 2014 to project future trends in life span and healthy working life expectancy (HWLE).
The latter is defined as the average number of years that people can expect to be healthy and in work between the ages of 50 and 75 in England
Lead author Dr Lynch, a lecturer in public health, said: “Because state pension age is linked to life expectancy, the gap between HWLE and life expectancy from age 50 is widening.
“This suggests that (healthy) working lives are not extending in line with policy goals.
“Waiting for longer to receive a state pension is unlikely to be made easier by additional healthy working years.
“Further research should identify factors that increase healthy working life expectancy, so that evidence-based initiatives can be put in place to improve to population health, wellbeing, and work opportunities as state pension age goes up.”
Previous research estimated that, on average, from the age of 50 people in England can expect to be healthy and in work for nine more years.
The results raised questions about whether a sufficient proportion of people can work until they would be able to receive the state pension.
Researchers suggest the new findings add further evidence to the debate by indicating that people in the UK are expected to work for longer and retire later because the state pension age is rising.
But, due to longer life expectancies, the number of years that people aged 50 and over spend working in good health is not increasing at a proportionate rate.
Professor Carol Jagger, from Newcastle University said: “This mismatch between the increases in life expectancy and HWLE reflect other findings on the greater prevalence of multiple long-term conditions in future cohorts of those entering older age.
“However, the increasing necessity of older workers, particularly women, to provide care for parents, can also have detrimental effects on their health.”