Stockholm university

Research project Predictors and consequences of paid work following retirement in Sweden

Pension reforms have increased individual choice over retirement age as well as encouraging retired people to supplement their incomes with paid work.

Happy blue collar worker. Photo: David Siglin on Unsplash.

However, little is known in the Swedish context about the nature and quality of post-retirement work, barriers to accessing post-retirement work, and what the implications of post-retirement work might be for gender, health and social inequalities in later life. Therefore the present project will investigate the predictors and consequences of post-retirement work from quantitative and qualitative perspectives.

Project description

Data will be drawn from SLOSH (Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health), an approximately representative sample of the Swedish working population (N=18,915) over the years 2006 to 2020 and matched to data on income and pensions drawn from the Longitudinal integration database for health insurance and labour market studies (LISA).

The project will examine from a longitudinal perspective how common transitions into various forms of post-retirement work are and whether there are differences by gender, health status and socio-economic position in access to post-retirement work. It will examine how the psychosocial and physical working conditions of post-retirement jobs compare to those of pre-retirement jobs as well as the impacts of post-retirement jobs upon gender, health and social inequalities.

Interviews will be carried out with a theoretically drawn sub-sample of SLOSH participants experiencing different retirement forms (cliff-edge retirement, gradual retirement, post-retirement work) in order to explore qualitatively the factors aiding and impeding participation in post-retirement work, as well as participants’ evaluations of such work.

Project members

Project managers

Loretta Platts

Associate Professor

Department of Psychology
Loretta Platts Foto: Psykologiska institutionen/HD

Members

Lawrence Sacco

Researcher

Department of Psychology
Lawrence Sacco. Foto: Psykologiska institutionen/HD

Agnieszka Ignatowicz

PhD

Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Bimingham

Paraskevi Peristera

Researcher

Department of Psychology

Dara Rasoal

Senior lecturer and Researcher

Dalarna University

Kevin E. Cahill

PhD

Boston College

Hugo Westerlund

Professor

Department of Psychology
Hugo Westerlund

Staffan Marklund

Professor emeritus

Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet

Bo Burström

Professor, Senior Physician

Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet

Publications