NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2004

AROUND HARVARD

This article originally appeared in the September 2004 Harvard Women’s Health Letter and is provided courtesy of Harvard Health Publications.

Is a longer work life healthy for you?

Working beyond midlife offers pluses and minuses. Here are a few.

More than half of women ages 55–64 are working or looking for work — twice as many as in 1950. Many of these women are at the peak of their careers; others simply enjoy working and have no desire to quit. Fortunately for them, most jobs no longer have mandatory retirement ages, and changes in Social Security and private pension rules have made it more attractive to keep working.

Many other women work out of necessity, not by choice. A 65-year-old woman can expect to live, on average, at least another 20 years. She may not have the financial wherewithal to cover another two decades’ worth of expenses. She may need a paying job to offset inadequate Social Security benefits, retirement income depleted by stock market losses, or health care costs not covered by insurance. Older women and their partners may still be paying off mortgages or their children’s college debts. Women who are single, divorced, or widowed may be worse off financially.

For these and other reasons, a growing number of women in their 50s and 60s plan to keep working at least into their 70s. Several factors influence a woman’s ability to enjoy a longer work life. Here are some things to keep in mind.

The benefits of work in later life
The prestigious MacArthur Foundation Study of Aging in America has identified three key ingredients to successful aging: low probability of disease and disability, high mental and physical function, and active engagement with life. Work, whether paid or unpaid, can help fulfill two out of three of these requirements. A job that challenges your intellect, requires you to take initiative and make choices, and gives you confidence in your ability to handle a variety of situations can keep your mind sharp — much as physical workouts keep your body in shape. By “active engagement with life,” the MacArthur researchers mean close personal relationships and the pursuit of activities that produce something of value, be it a product or a service, such as providing nursing care or babysitting for a neighbor. Work can provide both of these.

Working also engenders a sense of optimism about aging. In a poll conducted in 2002 among women ages 50 and over, Brandeis University’s National Center on Women and Aging found a link between working and positive attitudes toward aging. Older working women were more likely than their non-working counterparts to feel positive about growing older, to report being in good physical health, and to anticipate a better financial future.

Finally, research suggests that people who feel they’re making a difference in a role they believe is important may live longer than those who feel less effective or valuable. So the work we choose in our later years, whether paid or volunteer, could actually extend our lives.

On the other hand
Not all work is good for us. Some jobs cause unrelenting stress that can make us sick. The classic model of a harmfully stressful job is one with high demands (too much to do in too little time), low control (little say about how you do your work), and little support from supervisors, coworkers, or both. Studies have shown that women in such jobs can suffer a serious mental and physical decline within a few years. That doesn’t happen to women whose jobs allow them to use their skills and participate in decision-making.

A working future
In a tight job market, women may feel they don’t have much choice about the work they do. But opportunities for older women appear to be improving. The reasons are complex, involving changes in social attitudes as well as legal and political efforts. But the main factors are the growth of the American economy and the relatively small number of young people entering the labor market today — compared, say, to the era of the Baby Boomers.

As a result, businesses are increasingly willing to turn to older workers, whose strengths include maturity, reliability, adaptability, experience, loyalty, and a keen desire to work. With age, it may take a little longer to learn something new or to recall things such as numbers or names on demand. But researchers have found that in most cases, practice and effort can compensate for these minor changes.

You may find this is a good time to change careers or work part-time. To maximize your chances of finding work that you like or to make your current work more enjoyable, investigate career development or training opportunities (especially in computer skills) at your workplace or in your community. Your best career may lie ahead of you.

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