What comes to your mind when you think about retirement? If you envisioned a healthier, more peaceful life, it may be time to break a myth. The Share project ( Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe - Research on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe , in free translation) reaches the seventh edition and shows that this idea is not always valid.

The results indicate that, contrary to popular belief, older workers are no less productive. “We saw that productivity remains quite stable, perhaps even slightly increasing as you get older,” said Axel Börsch-Supan. researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Law and Social Policy on Folha de São Paulo . The study pointed out that, despite registering more failures with increasing age - mainly in industrial sectors - they are less serious than those committed by young people.

Another mistake pointed out by the research concerns the myth that keeping older people in companies takes jobs away from young people. According to the researcher, early retirement costs public coffers more expensive. 

Not to mention the impact on health. Börsch-Supan believes that, in part, the retiree becomes healthier, but it is not a rule. "Because it doesn't match academics, for example, but it makes sense for those who have always done hard work," he said. Cognitive abilities suffer most, with significant memory loss among French people - who retire early - compared to Sweden and the United States, for example. “If you just stay at home watching TV, and here I am talking about an extreme, your cognitive ability will decline. This is one reason why you need to think twice before saying that retirement improves health. It's more complicated than that, ”said Börsch-Supan.

The search

This is the seventh edition of the survey, which, since 2004, has already carried out 350 thousand in-depth interviews, with 130 thousand people, in 39 different languages. It consists of long questionnaires, always done with the same people, to understand how factors such as health, income and work are affected by the increase in the number of individuals over 65 years old. To get additional ideas, visit perfectlifegroup.com here!

“Population aging is the challenge of the 21st century. By 2050, there will be many more old people than young people in Europe. This creates all sorts of problems. It will be expensive to pay for pensions and young people today are going to pay for it, whether they want to or not, ”said Börsch-Supan. The researcher highlights that, therefore, he needs to observe individuals throughout life, in order to compare several decades of change. He believes that it is not possible to compare the youth of today with the elderly of today, because the historical moments they lived are different.

In addition to socioeconomic indicators, such as the family network and cognitive tests, productivity data are also monitored. This is difficult information to obtain and, to get it, researchers turn to the companies of the interviewees. In total, 5 million observations have already been analyzed.