IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujoag/v20y2023i1d10.1007_s10433-023-00778-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigating the influence of work-related stress on early labour market exit: the role of health

Author

Listed:
  • Lisa Toczek

    (Ulm University)

  • Richard Peter

    (Ulm University)

Abstract

Early labour market exit of large birth cohorts will put pressure on the social security systems of many European countries, especially Germany. Despite political efforts, many people retire before the statutory retirement age. A well-known predictor of retirement is health, which, in turn, is influenced by psychosocial working conditions such as work-related stress. This study examined whether work stress is associated with early labour market exit. In addition, we investigated whether health mediates this association. Survey data of the German Cohort Study on Work, Age, Health and Work Participation (lidA study) were linked to register data from the Federal Employment Agency, from which information on labour market exit was obtained (n = 3636). During a 6-year follow-up period, Cox proportional hazard models were used to investigate the influence of work-related stress and health on early labour market exit, adjusting for sex, age, education, occupational status, income and supervisor behaviour. Work-related stress was measured by effort–reward imbalance (ERI). Additionally, a mediation analysis was conducted to investigate a possible mediation of the association between ERI and early labour market exit by self-rated health. Higher work-related stress increased the likelihood of early labour market exit (HR 1.86; 95% CI 1.19–2.92). However, when including health in the Cox regression, the significant effect of work-related stress disappeared. Poor health was a risk factor for early labour market exit (HR 1.49; 95% CI 1.26–1.76) independent of all confounders. The results of the mediation analysis showed that self-rated health mediated the association between ERI and early labour market exit. The balance between effort and reward at work plays a major role in improving the self-rated health of workers. Interventions that reduce work-related stress can help to improve health and thus to maintain older employees in the German labour market.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Toczek & Richard Peter, 2023. "Investigating the influence of work-related stress on early labour market exit: the role of health," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:20:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10433-023-00778-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10433-023-00778-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10433-023-00778-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10433-023-00778-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schröder, Helmut & Kersting, Anne & Gilberg, Reiner & Steinwede, Jacob, 2013. "Methodenbericht zur Haupterhebung lidA - leben in der Arbeit," FDZ Methodenreport 201301_de, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    2. Tisch, Anita, 2015. "Health, work ability and work motivation : determinants of labour market exit among German employees born in 1959 and 1965," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 48(3), pages 233-245.
    3. Johanna Stengård & Constanze Leineweber & Marianna Virtanen & Hugo Westerlund & Hui-Xin Wang, 2022. "Do good psychosocial working conditions prolong working lives? Findings from a prospective study in Sweden," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 677-688, September.
    4. Siegrist, Johannes & Starke, Dagmar & Chandola, Tarani & Godin, Isabelle & Marmot, Michael & Niedhammer, Isabelle & Peter, Richard, 2004. "The measurement of effort-reward imbalance at work: European comparisons," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(8), pages 1483-1499, April.
    5. Marianna Virtanen & Tuula Oksanen & G David Batty & Leena Ala-Mursula & Paula Salo & Marko Elovainio & Jaana Pentti & Katinka Lybäck & Jussi Vahtera & Mika Kivimäki, 2014. "Extending Employment beyond the Pensionable Age: A Cohort Study of the Influence of Chronic Diseases, Health Risk Factors, and Working Conditions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(2), pages 1-8, February.
    6. Tisch, Anita, 2015. "Health, work ability and work motivation : determinants of labour market exit among German employees born in 1959 and 1965," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 48(3), pages 233-245.
    7. Lisa Toczek & Hans Bosma & Richard Peter, 2022. "Early retirement intentions: the impact of employment biographies, work stress and health among a baby-boomer generation," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1479-1491, December.
    8. Suzan J W Robroek & Anne Rongen & Coos H Arts & Ferdy W H Otten & Alex Burdorf & Merel Schuring, 2015. "Educational Inequalities in Exit from Paid Employment among Dutch Workers: The Influence of Health, Lifestyle and Work," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-12, August.
    9. repec:iab:iabfme:201301(de is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Peter, Richard & March, Stefanie & du Prel, Jean-Baptist, 2016. "Are status inconsistency, work stress and work-family conflict associated with depressive symptoms? Testing prospective evidence in the lidA study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 100-109.
    11. Anita Tisch, 2015. "Health, work ability and work motivation: determinants of labour market exit among German employees born in 1959 and 1965 [Gesundheit, Arbeitsfähigkeit und Arbeitsmotivation: Beweggründe für den Er," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(3), pages 233-245, October.
    12. Peter Browne & Ewan Carr & Maria Fleischmann & Baowen Xue & Stephen A. Stansfeld, 2019. "The relationship between workplace psychosocial environment and retirement intentions and actual retirement: a systematic review," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 73-82, March.
    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. Chiara Heller & Stefanie Sperlich & Fabian Tetzlaff & Siegfried Geyer & Jelena Epping & Johannes Beller & Juliane Tetzlaff, 2022. "Living longer, working longer: analysing time trends in working life expectancy in Germany from a health perspective between 2002 and 2018," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1263-1276, December.
    2. Russell, Helen & Maître, Bertrand & Privalko, Ivan, 2019. "The ageing workforce in Ireland: Working conditions, health and extending working lives," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS92.
    3. Tophoven, Silke & Wurdack, Anja & Rauch, Angela & Munkert, Casandra & Bauer, Ulrike, 2016. "lidA - leben in der Arbeit : German cohort study on work, age and health. Documentation for waves 1 and 2," FDZ Datenreport. Documentation on Labour Market Data 201601_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    4. Stephen A Stansfeld & Ewan Carr & Melanie Smuk & Charlotte Clark & Emily Murray & Nicola Shelton & Jenny Head, 2018. "Mid-life psychosocial work environment as a predictor of work exit by age 50," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(4), pages 1-11, April.
    5. Tophoven, Silke & Wurdack, Anja & Rauch, Angela & Munkert, Casandra & Bauer, Ulrike, 2016. "lidA - leben in der Arbeit : Kohortenstudie zu Gesundheit und Älterwerden in der Arbeit. Dokumentation für die Wellen 1 und 2," FDZ Datenreport. Documentation on Labour Market Data 201601_de, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    6. Kristina Gyllensten & Kjell Torén & Mats Hagberg & Mia Söderberg, 2020. "A sustainable working life in the car manufacturing industry: The role of psychosocial factors, gender and occupation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-12, May.
    7. Johanna Stengård & Constanze Leineweber & Marianna Virtanen & Hugo Westerlund & Hui-Xin Wang, 2022. "Do good psychosocial working conditions prolong working lives? Findings from a prospective study in Sweden," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 677-688, September.
    8. repec:iab:iabfda:201601(de is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Lisa Toczek & Hans Bosma & Richard Peter, 2022. "Early retirement intentions: the impact of employment biographies, work stress and health among a baby-boomer generation," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1479-1491, December.
    10. Saana Myllyntausta & Marianna Virtanen & Jaana Pentti & Mika Kivimäki & Jussi Vahtera & Sari Stenholm, 2022. "Why do men extend their employment beyond pensionable age more often than women? a cohort study," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 599-608, September.
    11. repec:iab:iabfda:201601(en is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Peter Browne & Ewan Carr & Maria Fleischmann & Baowen Xue & Stephen A. Stansfeld, 2019. "The relationship between workplace psychosocial environment and retirement intentions and actual retirement: a systematic review," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 73-82, March.
    13. Anna Amilon & Mona Larsen, 2023. "Increasing retirement ages in Denmark: Do changes in gender, education, employment status and health matter?," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-10, December.
    14. Peter, Richard & March, Stefanie & du Prel, Jean-Baptist, 2016. "Are status inconsistency, work stress and work-family conflict associated with depressive symptoms? Testing prospective evidence in the lidA study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 100-109.
    15. Nektaria Nicolakakis & Maude Lafantaisie & Marie-Claude Letellier & Caroline Biron & Michel Vézina & Nathalie Jauvin & Maryline Vivion & Mariève Pelletier, 2022. "Are Organizational Interventions Effective in Protecting Healthcare Worker Mental Health during Epidemics/Pandemics? A Systematic Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-18, August.
    16. Liebig, Stefan & Schupp, Jürgen, 2008. "Leistungs- oder Bedarfsgerechtigkeit? Über einen normativen Zielkonflikt des Wohlfahrtsstaats und seiner Bedeutung für die Bewertung des eigenen Erwerbseinkommens," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 59(1), pages 7-30.
    17. Mandy Schult & Verena Tobsch, 2012. "Freizeitstress: wenn die Arbeit ständig ruft," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 485, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    18. Jean-Baptist du Prel & Johannes Siegrist & Daniela Borchart, 2019. "The Role of Leisure-Time Physical Activity in the Change of Work-Related Stress (ERI) over Time," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-9, December.
    19. Annette Meng & Emil Sundstrup & Lars L. Andersen, 2020. "Factors Contributing to Retirement Decisions in Denmark: Comparing Employees Who Expect to Retire before, at, and after the State Pension Age," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-12, May.
    20. João Silvestre da Silva-Junior & Frida Marina Fischer, 2014. "Long-Term Sickness Absence Due to Mental Disorders Is Associated with Individual Features and Psychosocial Work Conditions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-14, December.
    21. Elisabeth Maria Balint & Peter Angerer & Harald Guendel & Birgitt Marten-Mittag & Marc N. Jarczok, 2022. "Stress Management Intervention for Leaders Increases Nighttime SDANN: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-12, March.
    22. Rugulies, Reiner & Krause, Niklas, 2005. "Job strain, iso-strain, and the incidence of low back and neck injuries. A 7.5-year prospective study of San Francisco transit operators," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 27-39, July.

    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:spr:eujoag:v:20:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10433-023-00778-7. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.