Long-term health impacts of forced early retirement among steelworkers

Journal of Family Practice, April, 1991 by William R. Gillanders, Terry F. Buss, Evelynn Wingard, David Gemmel

Background. Previous studies of the health impacts of retirement have not investigated the effects of forced early retirement following plant closings.

Methods. Using a geriatric database representative of elderly people, the health impacts on employees forced to take early retirement from steel mills in the Youngstown, Ohio, area were assessed. A study group of forced early retirees was compared with two control groups: (1) regular steel industry retirees, and (2) regular retirees from jobs outside the steel industry. Utilizing multivariate analysis techniques, the effects of retirement on a number of different health measures were isolated.

Results. Over the long term, the health of forced retirees does not seem adversely affected by sudden job loss and unexpected retirement, at least in the steel industry.

Conclusions. Continuity theories of retirement--that workers do not experience abrupt catastrophic changes in lifestyle and in health--best explain the lack of negative health impacts.

Key words. Employment; personnel turnover health. J Fam Pract 1991; 32:401-405.

Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to retire early as corporations shut down operations to become more competitive. [1] The research community has yet to systematically study the health effects of forced early retirement on people following plant closings. Consequently, knowledge about forced early retirement is based on extrapolations from what is known about retirement at any age, about early retirement mandated by pension policy, or from studies of mass unemployment. Such extrapolations are not the best bases on which to build theories and devise public policies for those in need.

Although the subject of intense debate, retirement is often viewed as a potentially stressful life event. [2,3] Forced early retirement, unanticipated and without time to plan, is expected to be especially stressful. Income falls, radically altering lifestyles, especially for those without adequate personal resources. Forced early retirees may be unable to afford medical care and be vulnerable to the same physical health problems that affect the unemployed: psychosomatic illnesses, alcohol abuse, or drug abuse. [4,5] Wrenched suddenly from their jobs, forced early retirees may lose support networks of friends and co-workers. Forced early retirees who are poor, members of minority groups, or disabled may be less healthy initially and less able to cope once retired. [6] As time passes, forced early retirees as a group may become less well off as the debilities of age increase and resources are depleted. [7]

The purpose of this study was to examine steelworkers forced to retire early in a wave of steel mill closings in Youngstown, Ohio, during the late 1970s, to determine whether they experienced adverse health consequences. The research provides the basis for planning delivery of health care services targeted to the specific needs of early retirees.

Methods

In September 1977, Youngstown Sheet and Tube, one of the nation's largest steel producers, suddently and unexpectedly closed its Campbell Works, idling about 5000 workers. Two years later the company closed its Brier Hill Works, laying off another 1500. Around the same time, US Steel and Republic Steel terminated another 4000 jobs through closings and cutbacks. As many as 30,000 steelworkers were laid off from all local steel plants during the 1970s and 1980s, nearly 7% of the total labor force.

An estimated 3000 of the workers laid off from Youngstown Sheet and Tube were forced to retire early, and did not look for other work. They joined the community of steelworkers who had already retired.

The Survey

Personal interviews with 990 noninstitutionalized elderly (62 years of age or older) in the Youngstown, Ohio, metropolitan area were completed between September and December 1987. [8] Elderly people in nursing homes, adult day care centers, skilled nursing sites, or other long-term care facilities were not interviewed, but those living in retirement villages, high-rise buildings, and low-income housing complexes were. Households were selected from a simple random sample of telephone directory listings. When possible, interview appointments were set up in advance by telephone. Twenty interviewers completed interviews with 85% of the eligible households contacted.

The sample constituted a natural experiment on the long-term health effects of forced early retirement. Among the sample of 990, 60 forced early retirees (experimental group) and 95 regular retirees (control group) from the steel industry were identified. The ages at which the forced early retirees were originally laid off were less than 55 years (9), 55 to 59 years (26), and 60 to 64 years (25). The steel-industry groups included only men, reflecting the male dominance in the industry. Some 175 men of the 835 retirees in the remainder of the sample who had retired from non--steel-related jobs (a second control group) were also identified.