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Working Beyond the Traditional Retirement Ages: How does Chronic Health Condition Influence Older Workers in Vietnam

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Abstract

This paper, using the nationally representative data for older people in Vietnam, namely Vietnam Aging Survey (VNAS) in 2011, was aimed at exploring the current working status of older men and women who were at the ages beyond their respective normal retirement age (i.e., 60 for men and 55 for women) and then estimating how their chronic health conditions influenced on their decision to work. We found that there were significant differences in working rates between various groups of older men and women in terms of age group, living area, marital status, and educational level. The results from logistic models indicated that older persons with at least one chronic health condition had a significant lower probability of participating in the labour workforce than those without chronic health condition. In addition to health conditions, other factors (such as age, living area, and educational level) also implied that more vulnerable and poor older people had higher probabilities (i.e., more advanced ages, living in rural areas, and low educational levels) to work than did their counterparts. These groups of older people must work due to limited access to income security schemes, and thus there would be a great demand for policies supporting these groups of older people.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Public Policy and Management, National Economics University, 207 Giai Phong Street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam

    Long Thanh Giang

  2. Institute of Social and Medical Studies (ISMS), Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam

    Dung Duc Le

Authors
  1. Long Thanh Giang
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  2. Dung Duc Le
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Correspondence to Long Thanh Giang.

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Conflict of Interest

Both authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Ethical Treatment of Experimental Subjects (Animal and Human)

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of Middlesex University and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Funding

To conduct this research, Long Thanh Giang was funded by the Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under grant number II6.2–2013.01.

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Giang, L.T., Le, D.D. Working Beyond the Traditional Retirement Ages: How does Chronic Health Condition Influence Older Workers in Vietnam. Ageing Int 43, 158–173 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-017-9301-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-017-9301-y

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