Happiness and life expectancy by main occupational position among older workers: who will live longer and happy?

Current concerns about aging populations are being translated into legislations to postpone the statutory age at retirement. However, if this is done without considering inequalities in longevity across occupational groups, some may face higher vulnerabilities than others. We examine differences in...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Lozano, Mariona, Solé Auró, Aïda
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositorio:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/56858
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/56858
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100735
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Happy life expectancy
Occupation
Aging
Spain
Descripción
Sumario:Current concerns about aging populations are being translated into legislations to postpone the statutory age at retirement. However, if this is done without considering inequalities in longevity across occupational groups, some may face higher vulnerabilities than others. We examine differences in life expectancy and happiness by occupational position for the Spanish population aged 50 and over. We use happiness as a measure of subjective wellbeing, and compute life expectancy and happy life expectancy by sex and main occupation. Age-specific death rates are calculated using administrative data, and happiness prevalence comes from the European Social Survey. We show that both men and women in managerial positions were advantaged in terms of life expectancy, but only men record more years with happiness. In addition, women in routine jobs were the ones who could expect to live shorter and unhappier. Postponing the statutory age at retirement without considering these differences could be detrimental to women's wellbeing and health.