Disparities in healthy working life expectancy among economically active individuals at age 50 by employment type and occupation

Objectives This study analysed the healthy working life expectancy among economically active individuals to examine the differences in working duration and healthy years by employment type and occupational category in South Korea. Methods By using data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging 2006–2022, this study analysed 5925 economically active individuals aged 50 and older. Multistate models were employed to estimate and decompose life expectancy into healthy/unhealthy and working/non-working states by using Interpolated Markov Chain software. Occupational category and employment type were determined on the basis of participant status at age 50. Occupations were classified into manual and non-manual according to the Korean Standard Classification of Occupations. Wage employment included regular, temporary and daily paid work whereas non-wage employment included self-employment and unpaid family work. Results Non-wage workers had a significantly longer WLE than wage workers; however, this was largely due to continued work in poorer health. Conversely, wage workers experience substantially longer periods of healthy retirement. Manual workers exhibited longer total working years but shorter healthy working lives and retirement periods than non-manual workers. Conclusions Non-wage and manual workers in South Korea remain in the labour force longer but at the cost of poorer health and shorter healthy postretirement years. Therefore, current labour market structures may exacerbate health inequalities in later life. Policies should shift their focus from simply extending working duration to improving the health and quality of working life of workers.