Australians are living and working longer – but not necessarily healthier, new study shows

Australians are living and working longer, but a longer working life doesn’t always come with equivalent gains in healthy life.

Our analysis of change in life expectancy, health transitions and working patterns of more than 10,000 middle-aged Australians over the past two decades shows divergences in the number of years they can expect to be in good health at work and in retirement.

In particular, education matters.

Those who left school before year 12 are losing years of healthy life, with their extra years in the workforce mainly comprising years of poor health. This is opposite to the trend among people who completed high school.

And while men and women experienced improvements in life expectancy, on average women are not gaining extra healthy life years.

Australians are being encouraged to extend their working life. For this to be sustainable and equitable, government and workplaces policies will need to make allowances for the health capacity of mature-age workers.