Retired at Last? Past Working Conditions and the Role of Retirement in Health Status

This paper assesses the role played by retirement in health status by considering past working conditions. Using data from the French Health and Professional Path survey, we address the endogeneity biases by setting up a mixed econometric strategy relying on an instrumental variable method using retirement age thresholds and a matching method. Retirement has positive effects on the health of less exposed individuals while yielding considerably greater improvements for workers retiring from highly demanding careers. The highest protective influence appears in the low-skilled male population and exposed to physical constraints, with a decline of 21.2 pp in the probability of declaring poor health and of 13.7 pp in chronic diseases, 16 pp in activity limitations and 8 pp in anxiety or depression. These results advocate the need for preventive measures aimed towards exposures to work strains and/or differentiated retirement schemes according to the nature and intensity of a pensioner's entire work life. JEL Codes: I14, J26, J81, C31, C36.