Working Longer in a Less Arduous Job? A Register Study of Physically Demanding Work and Early Labor Market Exit in Finland

Finland, like other countries, has introduced pension reforms with the goal of extending working lives. While working longer is often possible for those in good health and in jobs with adequate working conditions, this might not be feasible for those who work in physically demanding jobs. This study investigates the relation between physically demanding work and the risk of labor market exit. It also analyses whether workers can delay exit by timely changing to a less arduous occupation. We use full population register data and follow workers born in years 1955–1959 from ages 50 to 62 or until they permanently stop working (N persons = 161,412, N person-years = 1,816,660). These data are combined with occupation-level job exposure matrices. Using discrete-time survival analysis, we estimate associations of occupations’ exposure to physical arduousness, as well as changes in arduousness, with the risk of labor market exit. We find that working in more physically demanding occupations at age 50 increased the subsequent risk of exit, although the effect was reduced after controlling for selection into arduous work. For those who start out in the most physically demanding occupations, changing to a less demanding occupation can meaningfully lower the risk of exit if the decrease in arduousness is sufficient.