The Daily Mail reports in its recent article, "Retiring early could kill you – especially if you're a man,” that US Census figures show a strong correlation between premature death and premature retirement. The analysis was conducted by Cornell University.
The link between premature death and premature retirement is stronger among men. They have a 20% higher mortality risk. They have a 20% higher mortality risk if they start claiming Social Security benefits at 62, which is three years premature. Researchers believe it could be due to workers forced to take early retirement, due to underlying health issues.
However, there’s no data to show that people who retire early die sooner than those who keep working past 65.
The research was conducted by economists Maria Fitzpatrick and Timothy Moore and entailed analysis of birth and death records for the entire US population. This was compared to data on claims for pensions, looking at each claimant's gender and age, and subsequent mortality.
The researchers found that a third of Americans start taking Social Security benefits at 62, which is thought to be early retirement for most employees. For those whose retirement technically started at 62 or earlier, retiring at 62 didn’t have an effect on their health.
However, the study found that those who retired early at 62, had a significantly higher mortality rate than workers who retired on time.
Fitzpatrick and Moore concluded that early retirement “may have an immediate, negative impact” on health.
This isn’t the first study to find this connection. In 2016, researchers at Oregon State University found that those who work past age 65 could add more years to their life. That group of individuals was 11% in the study. But those termed unhealthy who also worked another year longer had a 9% lower mortality risk.
Reference: Daily Mail (December 19, 2017)”Retiring early could kill you – especially if you're a man”
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