Policies for longer working lives: understanding interactions with health and care responsibilities

近几十年来，英国从事有偿工作的老年人比例一直在稳步上升。2000年，50岁的有60%的人有工作，到2015年，有70%的人有工作。在同一时期，65岁及以上的人在有偿就业中的比例翻了一番，从5%左右增加到10%。这一时期老年人口规模的增长意味着从事有偿工作的老年人人数的增加幅度更大。随着人口老龄化，以及鼓励人们更长时间工作的政策改革，重要的是要了解更长的工作寿命对老年人口的更广泛影响。我们的研究集中在与更长工作寿命相关的两个重要因素上。首先是对健康的影响。工作到60多岁的人会因为工作年限延长而健康状况变差吗？或者，工作(以及与之相关的收入)能让人们过上更健康、更积极的生活吗？这个问题很难回答，因为简单地观察工人比非工人更健康/更不健康，几乎不能告诉我们工作对健康的因果影响。健康和就业可能以一种复杂的方式相关。工作的事实可能会改善或恶化一个人的健康。但与此同时，如果人们已经身体不适，他们可能不太可能工作：例如，因为疼痛使他们无法完成他们过去或想要做的工作。我们的研究将通过一项增加老年工人就业的改革，直接关注工作时间延长对健康的影响，而不会对健康产生任何直接影响。这项改革是提高妇女的国家养老金年龄。我们将审查的第二个因素是工作和护理之间的相互作用，使用一个模型，该模型结合了影响老年人健康、收入和财富的各种因素。我们将利用这一点来了解影响社会护理需求和接受的因素(非正式护理、公共资助的正规护理和私人资助的正规护理)。我们还将模拟非正式护理的提供情况--即谁提供护理，以及他们提供多少护理(以每周小时数计算)。然后，我们将使用该模型来理解人们决定从事有偿工作和决定提供非正式护理之间的相互作用。我们所做的所有研究的基础将是这样一个想法，即工作生活的影响对不同的人有何不同，以及它们可能如何加强或改善现有的健康和收入不平等。这意味着我们不仅要研究工作寿命延长对一种健康类型的影响，而且还要研究一系列措施，并了解可能对健康产生积极或消极影响的行为。我们将关注可能受到不同影响的人口群体。在护理方面，我们可以看到是否有特定类型的人更需要护理，以及最终提供护理的人，特别是收入和性别的差异。这项提案中概述的所有研究都是与法国、德国和丹麦的研究人员并行进行的。我们共同组成了一个财团。我们的欧洲合作伙伴也是学术研究人员，他们对影响本国老年人的公共政策有着复杂的了解。通过研究每个国家的类似问题，我们将能够通过检查不同政策环境中的行为和结果来增加我们对这些问题的理解。这将帮助政策制定者了解整个欧洲政府政策的影响。

In recent decades, the proportion of older people in the United Kingdom who are in paid work has been steadily rising. In 2000, 60% of 50-64 year olds were employed and by 2015, 70% of them were. The proportion of people aged 65 and over in paid employment has doubled over the same period, from around 5% to 10%. Growth in the size of the older population over this period means the increases in the numbers of older individuals in paid work are even greater. With an ageing population, and policy reforms that are encouraging people to remain in work longer, it is important to understand the broader effects of longer working lives on the older population. Our research focuses on two important factors related to longer working lives. The first is the effect on health. Do people who work longer into their 60s have lower health because of their extended working life? Or does work (and the income associated with it) allow people to live healthier, more active lives? This question is hard to answer because simply observing that workers are healthier/less healthy than non-workers tells us little about the causal effect of work on health. Health and employment can be related in a complicated way. The fact of working may improve or worsen a person's health. But, at the same time, people may be less likely to work if they are already unwell: for example because pain prevents them from doing the job they used to, or want to, do. Our research will look directly at the effect of working longer on health by using a reform which increased the employment of older workers, without having any direct effect on health. This reform was the increase in the state pension age for women. The second factor that we will examine is the interaction between work and caring, using a model that incorporates a large range of factors that affect the health, income and wealth of the older population. We will use this to understand the factors affecting the need for and receipt of social care (informal care, publicly-funded formal care, and privately-funded formal care). We will also model the supply of informal care - that is, who provides care, and how much they provide (in terms of number of hours per week). We will then use the model to understand the interaction between people's decisions to be in paid work and the decision to provide informal care. Underlying all the research that we do will be the idea of how the effects of working lives can differ for different people, and how they might reinforce or ameliorate existing inequalities in health and income. This means we will not only look at the effect of longer working lives on one type of health, but a range of measures, and understand the behaviours that might have positive or negative impacts on health. We will look at the groups of the population that might be affected differently. In terms of care, we can see whether it is particular types of people who are in greater need of care, and who end up providing care, in particular the differences by income and sex. All of the research outlined in this proposal is being undertaken in parallel with researchers in France, Germany and Denmark. Together we form one consortium. Our European partners are also academic researchers who have intricate knowledge of the public policies affecting older people in their countries. By studying similar questions in each country, we will be able to increase our understanding of these issues by examining behaviour and outcomes in different policy settings. This will help policymakers understand the impacts of government policies across Europe.