Bachelor's thesis
2024-05-22
The share of aging Finns in the population is constantly growing and the working-age population has been decreasing for 15 years. It has been shown that people’s working ability gradually deteriorates with age, and working ability is significantly linked to labor status. The purpose of this thesis is to study changes in the employment and working ability of aging Finns in the years preceding the Covid19 pandemic.
The thesis was created as part of Laurea University of Applied Sciences research project “Functional ability, rehabilitation and income transfers of the aging population in 2017-2021” and is one of the project’s publications. The thesis uses waves 7 (2017) and 8 (2020) of the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data. Finns aged 50 to 70 who were present at both waves were included in this thesis study.
The thesis is a longitudinal study carried out using statistical methods. As background, the thesis utilizes Finnish and English literature and articles from the fields of economics, medicine, and nursing science.
Employment is highest in the youngest (50-54y.) age cohort (2017: 85%, 2020: 89%) and lowest in the oldest (65-70y.) age cohort (2017: 4.5%, 2020: 10.3%). In both waves, approximately 29% of the participants had a health problem that limited their ability to work. The previous reduced working ability and subsequent employment status were found to be dependent.
Maintaining the working ability of older Finns and prolonging their careers is an important economic objective, because the working-age population in Finland is constantly decreasing, which causes significant problems for both the private and public sectors.
The full thesis can be found in finnish at https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024052113841