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Working Beyond the Traditional Retirement Ages: How does Chronic Health Condition Influence Older Workers in Vietnam

DOI:10.1007/s12126-017-9301-y
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Long Thanh Giang
Long Thanh Giang
Long Thanh Giang
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Dung Duc Le at Keio University
Dung Duc Le
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Abstract

This paper, using the nationally representative data for older people in Vietnam, namely Vietnam Aging Survey (VNAS) in 2011, was aimed at exploring the current working status of older men and women who were at the ages beyond their respective normal retirement age (i.e., 60 for men and 55 for women) and then estimating how their chronic health conditions influenced on their decision to work. We found that there were significant differences in working rates between various groups of older men and women in terms of age group, living area, marital status, and educational level. The results from logistic models indicated that older persons with at least one chronic health condition had a significant lower probability of participating in the labour workforce than those without chronic health condition. In addition to health conditions, other factors (such as age, living area, and educational level) also implied that more vulnerable and poor older people had higher probabilities (i.e., more advanced ages, living in rural areas, and low educational levels) to work than did their counterparts. These groups of older people must work due to limited access to income security schemes, and thus there would be a great demand for policies supporting these groups of older people.
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Working Beyond the Traditional Retirement Ages: How
does Chronic Health Condition Influence Older Workers
in Vietnam
Long Thanh Giang
1
&Dung Duc Le
2
Published online: 29 August 2017
#Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2017
Abstract This paper, using the nationally representative data for older people in
Vietnam, namely Vietnam Aging Survey (VNAS) in 2011, was aimed at exploring
the current working status of older men and women who were at the ages beyond
their respective normal retirement age (i.e., 60 for men and 55 for women) and
then estimating how their chronic health conditions influenced on their decision to
work. We found that there were significant differences in working rates between
various groups of older men and women in terms of age group, living area, marital
status, and educational level. The results from logistic models indicated that older
persons with at least one chronic health condition had a significant lower proba-
bility of participating in the labour workforce than those without chronic health
condition. In addition to health conditions, other factors (such as age, living area,
and educational level) also implied that more vulnerable and poor older people
had higher probabilities (i.e., more advanced ages, living in rural areas, and low
educational levels) to work than did their counterparts. These groups of older
people must work due to limited access to income security schemes, and thus there
would be a great demand for policies supporting these groups of older people.
Keywords Aging .Health care .Older people .Retirements .Viet nam
Ageing Int (2018) 43:158–173
DOI 10.1007/s12126-017-9301-y
*Long Thanh Giang
giang.long@ippm.edu.vn
Dung Duc Le
lddung@isms.org.vn
1
Institute of Public Policy and Management, National Economics University, 207 Giai Phong Street,
Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi 10000, Vietnam
2
Institute of Social and Medical Studies (ISMS), Hanoi 10000, Vietnam
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Health status, number of health problems and number of difficulties with Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) were emphasised in various studies to indicate health characteristics. Poor health discourages older people from participating in the labour market, as do long-term illness and chronic disease (Lixin and Changxin, 2009;Giang and Le, 2018). Similarly, difficulties in performing ADLs, which are usually linked with the increase in age, are also barriers to labour participation as such impairments may reduce an individual's ability to fulfil work commitments (Stamm et al., 2016). ...
... Additionally, a study drawn from the 2007 Survey of Older Persons in Thailand by Adhikari et al. (2011) noted that the number of chronic diseases is a strong predictor of the labour participation decision among elderly people in Thailand, and that multiple functional disabilities can deter older people from participating in the labour market. This is further supported by Giang and Le (2018), using the Vietnam Ageing Survey (VNAS), which found that older people reporting at least one chronic health condition were less likely to participate in the labour market than those without a chronic health condition. There have been a number of longitudinal studies which provided evidence of a strong link between health and labour market status. ...
... As there is no consistent measure of health, previous research uses a variety of concepts and variables to represent health (Banks et al., 2015). Much of the published research on older people used subjective health measures such as perceived or self-reported health status , chronic health condition/illness (Giang and Le, 2018;Hjärtström et al., 2018), health satisfaction (Carter et al., 2013) and health problems (Thakur et al., 2013) from the viewpoint of both mental and physical health (Zimmer et al., 2002;Pharr et al., 2011). Furthermore, literature focusing on the capacity to work in relation to health among older people also includes functional disabilities (Hairi et al., 2010;Gupta et al., 2014), impairment (Cutler et al., 2013;Stamm et al., 2016) and ...
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The increasing percentage of older people in many countries has aroused interest among policymakers with regard to older people’s well-being, including issues concerning support for older people, their economic security and familial and living arrangements. While some older people support themselves with their own income and savings through wealth accumulation, there are others who remain active in the labour market out of financial necessity. Some older people tend to work as long as they are physically able, especially when support from family members is limited. Using data from the Fifth Malaysian Population and Family Survey 2014 (MPFS-5), this research investigates the relationship between intergenerational transfers, co-residence and labour participation among 4,059 older Malaysians aged 60 years and above. A binary logistic regression was used to identify the significant predictors of older Malaysians participating in the labour market after controlling for key demographic, health and socio-economic, geographical and intergenerational support variables. The results showed that respondents who were older, female, and either married or widowed were less likely to participate in the labour market than their counterparts. On the other hand, those who were of Chinese background, with more income sources, who lived in rural areas and those residing in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan were more likely to be in the labour market than their comparison groups. Furthermore, respondents with a higher education, those who experienced greater difficulty in daily living and those who lived with more health problems were less likely to be in the labour market than the reference group. In terms of intergenerational support, older people who received support from their adult children more frequently were less likely to participate in the labour market than those who received no support. Surprisingly, co-residence was not a statistically significant factor. This research has offered an insight into the complex relationship between working in later life and supporting one’s family among older people in Malaysia. These findings have important implications for Malaysian old age policy and its effort to promote productive ageing through employment opportunities, which can ensure continued independence in old age, while acknowledging the importance of family support on preserving the welfare of older people in Malaysia.<br/
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... There are a number of empirical studies focusing on social structure, family relationship or health status of the elderly in Vietnam, such as their living arrangements, health, intergenerational solidarity, labor force participation and long-term care ( Giang & Le, 2017;Le, Quashie & Prachuabmoh, 2018;Teerawichitchainan, Pothisiri & Long, 2015;Truong, Bui, Goodkind & Knodel, 1997) . However, there is no research at the national level about the elderly' s mental health or its proxy variables, such as their subjective well-being. ...
... In his book on positive psychology, Carr ( 2013) pointed out that life satisfaction is significantly affected by financial satisfaction. In addition, Giang and Le ( 2017) found that workers are more likely to report a healthier condition than those who are unemployed or do not work. Besides, health status has always been shown to have a strong and consistent relationship with subjective well-being. ...
... The respondents had the right to stop or interrupt the interview at any time without any penalty. All personal information, and information provided by the survey is confidential and used only for research purposes (Giang & Le, 2017). ...
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... Chronic diseases also make it difficult to raise the retirement age in Vietnam (the current retirement age is 55 for women and 60 for men). It is documented that Vietnamese older persons tend to participate less in the labor force when they have at least one chronic disease (Giang & Le, 2018). Besides, as Confucianism is deeply rooted in Vietnamese society (Knodel et al., 2005), gender differences in older adults' mental health and morbidity are expected. ...
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... In Vietnam, there is no research at the national level on the relationship between educational background and happiness and loneliness at old age while other studies has confirmed other aspects such as social networks have important relationship with loneliness of older persons (Pinquart & Sorensen, 2001) or education have mostly confirmed to have good relationship with working age population such as advantages in working environment and economic benefits (Cuñado & de Gracia, 2012). Besides, other studies on older population only focused on social structure, living arrangement, the interaction between generations, retirement age or family relationships (Giang & Le, 2017;Le et al., 2018;Teerawichitchainan et al., 2015;Truong et al., 1997). Therefore, the research results are expected to contribute to the gap in literature and propose appropriate policies to improve the mental health of Vietnamese older persons, while affirming the role of education in terms of non-economic aspect through answering research questions: What are the relationships between level of education and subjective well-being of older persons in Vietnam, in terms of the degree of happiness and loneliness, controlling for other factors? ...
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