Retirement as a Relief? The Role of Physical Job Demands and Psychological Job Stress for Effects of Retirement on Self-Rated Health

This study investigates the relationship between retirement and self-rated health, and how this relationship is moderated by experienced pre-retirement physical job demands and psychological job stress. Two waves of Dutch panel data are analysed, collected between 2003 and 2007, which include information on 819 people who retired between waves and 636 people who remained in employment. It is argued that on the one hand, the time that comes available after retirement is beneficial to health, while on the other hand, retirement can represent a relief from demanding work. Conditional change ordered logistic analyses show that indeed, retirement is beneficial for health, but this is largely relative to those who stay in employment, who experience a decline in health. Further, the largest health gains are for those with psychologically stressful jobs. No such support is found for physically demanding jobs. Strengths, limitations, and implications of the study are discussed.