Individual and work factors related to perceived work ability and labor force outcomes

Abstract

Perceived work ability refers to a worker's assessment of his or her ability to continue working in his or her job, given characteristics of the job along with his or her resources. Perceived work ability is a critical variable to study in the United States, given an aging workforce, trends to delay retirement, and U.S. policy considerations to delay the age at which full Social Security retirement benefits may be obtained. Based on the job demands-resources model, cognitive appraisal theory of stress, and push/pull factors related to retirement, we proposed and tested a conceptual model of antecedents and outcomes of perceived work ability using 3 independent samples of U.S. working adults. Data regarding workers' job characteristics were from self-report and Occupational Information Network measures. Results from relative importance analysis indicated that health and sense of control were consistently and most strongly related to work ability perceptions relative to other job demands and job and personal resources when perceived work ability was measured concurrently or 2 weeks later in samples with varying occupations. Job demands (along with health and sense of control) were most strongly related to work ability perceptions when perceived work ability was measured in a manufacturing worker sample 1.6 years later. Perceived work ability also predicted lagged labor force outcomes (absence, retirement, and disability leave) while controlling for other known predictors of each. Consistent indirect effects were observed from health status and sense of control to all 3 of these outcomes via perceived work ability.

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Figures

Figure 1

Proposed Conceptual Model of Perceived Work Ability.

Figure 2

Summary of Results. This model includes all exogenous variables that had significant relative weights predicting variance in perceived work ability in one of the three samples and all study outcome variables. Estimates are from: Sample 1 / Sample 2 / Sample 3; NA means that the variable was not included for a given Sample. Exogenous variables for Samples 2 and 3 are time 1 predictors of time 2 perceived work ability. Exogenous variables for Sample 1 are time 1 predictors of time 1 work ability. Estimates of exogenous variables to perceived work ability are relative weights (% of variance in perceived work ability) and estimates of perceived work ability to outcomes are odds ratios (OR) and standardized coefficients from final structural models. Analyses of absence and disability leave control for age and health status. Analyses of retirement control for age, household income, and health status. Sample 1 analyses of exogenous variables on perceived work ability control for age (Sample 1, 2, and 3) and Income (Sample 1). See Tables 7, 8, and 9 for estimates of indirect effects from exogenous variables to outcomes and for path model estimates of exogenous predictors at time 1 to perceived work ability at time 1. *p < .05. **p < .01.