Retirement? Forget it, new research shows we’re better off working past 65
Pensioners who have jobs are happier with lives
Working past 65 keeps your brain sharp because it continues to make it work better to solve problems, say researchers.
A study of retired people in paid and voluntary jobs still using their professional skills showed that clocking off work while approaching late adulthood may cause a steeper fall in mental agility.
The study by Spanish researchers also showed that older workers were also happier with their lives.
The nation’s favourite political guru Professor Sir John Curtice, 70, appeared to work around the clock in recent elections, spending his days off working on his allotment and baking.
Older still is Professor Ewan Macdonald, who heads Glasgow University’s Healthy Working Lives Research and Teaching Group at what he describes as “well into his 70s” as well as his clinical
job as an occupational health doctor. “Work can give people a sense of purpose which is vital to helping to maintain health and it does not have to be a full-time job but one which maintains your interest,” he says. “Retirement is just not good for you and unemployment leads to what we call inflammatory markers in your blood, which can lead to illness.
“People who work are enthusiastic about other aspects of life and are likely to be more active which maintains health. The aim should be a job with the hours that suit you and where the rewards are not just financial.
“Being healthy enough to work means making an effort to stay well. Diet is critical and that means avoiding processed foods where possible. Sadly, Scots are one of the fattest nations and that is a driver for an unhealthy and shorter life. Exercise like walking helps maintain a good weight and also helps you socialise by meeting others. There is tremendous value in having friends old and new.
“I have been lucky not to have been affected by a disease like an excessive cancer, I exercise by getting out and about and have a job I love. While that is not possible for everyone, it is worth the effort to remain working and stay healthy for longer whether it’s working in your local supermarket part-time or answering the phone at a local garage or customer service centre.”
State pension age is projected to rise to 68 by 2035 and 71 in 2050.
The over-55s are such a vital part of the economy that the Demos – a leading UK policy think tank – recommends an annual tax-free £1,000 Priority Jobs Bonus for all workers over 55 working in shortage occupations and earning less than £50,000 a year.
Its Platinum Pound report into boosting employment in over50s urges going to good lengths to hold onto to older workers to help grow the economy.
“Workers over the age of 50 already make up one-third of the UK workforce, and this will continue to grow in the coming years given the country’s ageing population,” it says.
While the number of over-65s in jobs is higher than 20 years ago Demos expresses concern over those who left work during the pandemic and did not return. About 180,000 are missing in action in UK factories, offices and frontline jobs.
Italians do not consider themselves old until they are 75, according to the country’s Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics.
Public Health Information Scotland sets that dial more than a decade earlier and in its Working to Improve Public Health and Reduce Health Inequalities statements says: “Older people are defined variously as over 60 or 65 years of age.”
Depressingly, the UK lags behind most other high-income countries which have seen the number of older workers increase since the pandemic.
Recently, however, many over50s left work during the pandemic, and because the employment rate of this age group has remained lower ever since, there are around 180,000 fewer in jobs whereas in most other high-income countries the employment rate of older workers has increased since the pandemic.
One of our biggest obstacles is that the UK has lowest healthy life expectancy among the world’s richest nations. It is defined as the years lived in good health.
Scotland’s is 61 for women and 60 for men and lower in 2021 than it was in 2011, dashing the hopes of many hoping to work even part -ime after pension age. Worryingly, whole life expectancy has been falling for the past three years and is now 76 for men and 80 for women.
An alarming decline in our NHS was pinpointed as the main reason in a damning report by the health and social care charity, the Kings Fund last year. It described what used to be the envy of the world as having “seen better days”.