STREAM Newsletter 3

Health, job characteristics, skills, and social and financial factors in relation to early retirement
Due to the ageing of the population, it is important that workers prolong their working life. Although the average retirement age in the Netherlands has increased, most workers still  leave the workforce before the official retirement age of 65. A recent STREAM study investigated the influence of health, job characteristics, skills, and social and financial factors on early retirement. In total, 2,317 employees, who participated in the first two measurements, were included in the this study. Of these persons, 269 made the transition from work to early retirement between the these two measurements.

Older age, poor physical health, a positive attitude of the partner with respect to early retirement and the financial possibility to stop working before age 65 predicted the transition from work to early retirement, whereas employees that reported high appreciation at work and higher focus on development of skills and knowledge were less likely to retire early. Of all the factors studied, the financial possibility to stop working before the age of 65 years contributed most strongly to early retirement, followed by the attitude of the partner and appreciation at work.

The results of this study show that the causes of early retirement are multifactorial, which advocates that policies, regulations, and interventions focus on a diversity of factors in order to prolong working lives.

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