Objective The aim of this prospective study was to examine employer changes among older workers and to relate them to psychosocial work factors, health, and work ability. Four groups of employees as elaborated by Hom et al. (2012) were distinguished: Enthusiastic leavers (EL), reluctant leavers (RL), enthusiastic stayers (ES), and reluctant stayers (RS). Methods Repeated Measures ANOVA analyses were based on data from the second and third waves (2014, 2018) of the German lidA Cohort Study, a representative study of employees born in 1959 or 1965. Results The largest proportion of participants was ES (73.3%), 13.2% stayed with their employer although they would have preferred to leave (RS). 7.1% changed employer between 2014 and 2018 voluntarily (EL), 6.4% involuntarily (RL). Analyses confirmed that the four groups already differed in 2014 in terms of health, work ability, and psychosocial work factors and that these outcomes change in different characteristic patterns over time. Most outcomes improved substantially following the change among EL. RS already reported poor outcomes in 2014 and exhibited a further deterioration while staying at the undesired workplace. Conclusion Our findings indicate that an employer change is followed by improvements of work, health, and work ability. We conclude that an inclusive labor market policy for older workers allowing for high job mobility may have the potential to contribute to considerable improvements of workers' individual working conditions, health, and work ability, thereby increasing the work participation. Also, the considerable group of RL requires increased political and scientific attention.

Occupational change encompasses change of profession, employer and work tasks. This study gives an overview on occupational change in later working life and provides empirical evidence on voluntary, involuntary and desired occupational changes in the older workforce in Germany. The analyses were based on longitudinal data from 2,835 participants of the German lidA Cohort Study, a representative study of employees born in 1959 or 1965. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed in order to characterise the change groups in their previous job situation. The findings indicate that occupational change among older workers is frequent. In four years, 13.4 per cent changed employer, 10.5 per cent profession and 45.1 per cent work tasks. In addition, the desire for change often remains unfulfilled: the share of older workers who wanted to but did not change was 17.6 per cent for profession, 13.2 per cent for employer and 8.9 per cent for work tasks. The change groups investigated differ in terms of their socio-demographic background, health and job factors such as seniority and leadership quality. In times of ageing populations, the potential of occupational change among older workers requires more consideration in society, policy and research. Special attention should also be paid to the group of workers who would have liked to change but feel that they cannot leave.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of voluntary employer changes on self-reported work ability among older workers in Germany and whether a honeymoon-hangover effect (HHE) exists here. In research on job satisfaction, three typical periods around a voluntary employer change characterize a HHE: a deterioration in the old job (deterioration), an initial increase in the new job (honeymoon) and a subsequent decline over time (hangover). Whether a HHE exists in respect to work ability following a voluntary employer change remained open. The analyses are based on data from the first three waves of the lidA study (2011, 2014, 2018), a representative cohort study of older employees in Germany born in 1959 or 1965. Data from 2502 workers who participated in all three study waves was analyzed. Fixed-effects regression analyses including lag and lead variables were conducted. A deterioration, honeymoon and hangover period were found. Work ability increased substantially following the voluntary employer change. Our study shows that voluntary employer changes have the potential to maintain work ability at higher working age, but not to increase the work ability in the long-term perspective. However, despite the existence of a hangover period, the positive overall effect of the voluntary change should not be underestimated.

In light of a large proportion of older workers leaving the German labour market in the near future, policy makers aim to extend working lives to ensure sustainability of the social security system. In this context, safe and healthy working conditions are considered a precondition for encouraging employment participation. To understand better the role of the work environment in pre-retirement years, we draw upon an established model of five job quality profiles for the German ageing workforce. We explored seven-year profile development and linked selected manual and non-manual job quality trajectories to the motivation to work (MTW) using data from the 2011, 2014 and 2018 assessments of the lidA cohort study (valid N = 2,863). We found that older workers shifted to physically less-demanding profiles. Individual profile stability was prevalent among one-third of the workers. In 2018, there was a higher MTW when job quality remained favourable or improved early, while later improvements were associated with lower MTW. Early deterioration of job quality was associated with lower MTW levels among workers with non-manual trajectories only. The results highlight the dynamic job quality situation of the older German workforce and the importance of adopting a person-centred perspective when investigating working conditions and its effects. They further underline the need to consider quality of work when designing and implementing strategies to extend working lives.

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Im Kontext politischer Bemühungen, ältere Beschäftigte in Deutschland länger im Erwerbsleben zu halten, wird untersucht, wie lange diese noch erwerbstätig sein wollen und können und wie sich tatsächliche Veränderungen von Arbeitsbedingungen auf ihre Erwerbsperspektive auswirken. Methodik Datengrundlage der Analysen sind die zweite (2014) und dritte (2018) Welle der lidA-Studie, welche repräsentativ für sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigte der Geburtsjahrgänge 1959 und 1965 in Deutschland ist. In deskriptiven Quer- und Längsschnittanalysen werden die Veränderungen von den vier Arbeitsfaktoren schwere körperliche Arbeit, das Arbeiten im Schichtdienst, die Anerkennung von Leistungen und Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten im Zusammenhang mit der Veränderung der Erwerbsperspektive („Bis zu welchem Alter wollen bzw. können Sie erwerbstätig bleiben?“) untersucht. Ergebnisse Ältere Beschäftigte in Deutschland wollen deutlich früher aus dem Erwerbsleben aussteigen als sie – den eigenen Einschätzungen nach – noch erwerbstätig sein könnten – Männer dabei länger als Frauen, und ältere Beschäftigte länger als jüngere. Im Längsschnitt zeigt sich, dass sich sowohl das Wollen als auch das Können bei vielen älteren Beschäftigten mit der Annäherung an die Regelaltersgrenze verlängern. Zudem gehen Verbesserungen von Arbeitsbedingungen meist mit einer Verlängerung der Erwerbsperspektive einher. Diskussion Die Ergebnisse offenbaren unterschiedliche Muster, jeweils unterschiedlich in Bezug auf die untersuchten Arbeitsfaktoren, das Wollen und Können sowie das Geschlecht. Die Geschlechtsunterschiede können zum Teil durch die geschlechtstypisch unterschiedlichen Berufe der betroffenen Gruppen erklärt werden. Wenn Entlastungen im höheren Erwerbsalter mit einer Verlängerung der Erwerbsperspektive assoziiert sind, könnte dies auf freigelegte Ressourcen bei den Beschäftigten hinweisen. Dort, wo Entlastungen nicht mit einer Verlängerung der Erwerbsperspektive einhergehen, deutet dies darauf, dass sie eine dringend überfällige Entlastungsmaßnahme darstellen.