Longer work careers through tackling socioeconomic inequalities in disability retirement

There have been rapid increases in ageing populations in Europe and elsewhere, and this trend is going to continue for the next 40 years or so.1,2 Among these populations, the proportion of those who remain in work will decline unless older employees are willing and able to remain longer in the workforce.3 Continuing gains in life expectancy coupled with fixed retirement ages lead to a widening gap between the length of the work career and the length of life in retirement (See reference 4 in Supplementary Data). A large part of the gains in life expectancy are typically spent in good health, and thus there is an increasing pressure to keep people in work for longer.There are various means of extending work careers, all of which deserve consideration. For example, people could start working earlier and stop working later, efforts could be made to increase labour-force participation and to reduce unemployment among those of working age, and preventive measures could be taken to reduce the levels of ill health, absenteeism and disability retirement (See reference 5 in Supplementary Data). It is just as important to focus on the efforts …