The European Context: Declining Health but Rising Labor Force Participation among the Middle-Aged

To understand the potential future of working longer in America, we compare trends in health and employment in Europe with those in the United States. While health in Europe improved between 2004 and 2018 among older adults (aged 65 to 85), we find the opposite for middle-aged adults (aged 50 to 64). In this respect, Europe is experiencing negative developments similar to those in the United States. In terms of employment, however, Europe is different than the United States. We do not find any sign that employment rates of middle-aged individuals are stagnating or falling. On the contrary, employment has increased steadily since the late 1990s. It is too early to conclude what implications the stalling health trend of the middle-aged cohorts will have for labor force participation among older Europeans in 10 or 15 years. We argue that economic considerations, such as public pension and disability insurance policies, are likely to continue to have a greater influence on rates of early retirement than health.