A sustainable working life in the car manufacturing industry: The role of psychosocial factors, gender and occupation

Aims: In order to add to the existing knowledge about factors associated with retirement timing, in the car industry, it is useful to consider the psychosocial working conditions prior to retirement. This case-control study aimed to investigate relationships between psychosocial job factors and extended work after the age of 62 years among workers in the car industry in Sweden. Methods: A study invitation with a survey was sent to workers in one of Sweden’s largest car manufacturing company, who were employed 2005–2015 and either retired at the age 55–62 years or working at 63 years or older. Psychosocial variables such as job demand-control (JDC) and effort-reward imbalance (ERI) were recorded through the survey. Multiple logistic regression models were used to investigate associations between psychosocial variables and retirement in 572 cases that had continued to work ≥ 63 years, and 771 controls who had retired at 62 or earlier. Results: No associations were found between JDC-variables and retirement in the total sample or gender stratified analyses, but high demands-low control (high strain) was related to retirement before the age of 63 years in blue-collar workers. In contrast, high strain was related to continuing to work after 62 years for white-collar men and, high ERI was associated with extended work for the total sample of white-collar workers, and white-collar men, however these effects became non-significant in fully adjusted models. Conclusions: The relationships between psychosocial factors and extended work after 62 years were inconsistent, with high strain being related to retiring earlier for blue-collar workers.