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The decision to raise the employment protection age limit in Norway (from 70 to 72) evoked considerable debate, with both employers' associations and most trade union confederations opposing the change. The arguments set forth revealed a need for more knowledge about the oldest workers, and factors contributing to a late exit from the labour market. In this article, we use panel data from the Norwegian Life course, Ageing and Generation Study (2007, 2017) to explore previous work history of those who end up with careers extending beyond typical retirement age (i.e. 67). Our findings indicate that men and women who are still working when aged 67–75 have a history of high work engagement and work effort. Compared to their non-working peers in 2017, they were more likely to consider work as very important in life, perceive their job motivation as stable or improved, work long hours, be self-employed, and either have planned a late exit or made no retirement plans ten years earlier (2007). All in all, a strong inner drive for work seems to be central for a prolonged career; although among women, some may have to remain in the labour market due to financial reasons. ; The research presented here was carried out with financial support from the Research Council of Norway (Grant N° 254786 and 236997). The NorLAG survey data collections have been financed by The Research Council of Norway, four Norwegian Government Ministries, The Norwegian Directorate of Health, The Norwegian State Housing Bank, Sta- tistics Norway and NOVA at Oslo Metropolitan University. NorLAG data (DOI:10.18712/ norlag3_1) are part of the ACCESS Life Course infrastructure funded by the National Financing Initiative for Research Infrastructure at the Research Council of Norway (Grant N° 195403 and 269920). ; publishedVersion

Concern for the sustainability of the pension system and the future supply of workers has put increased labor force participation among the elderly high on the political agenda. Possible side effects of such a development for other areas have been explored only to a limited extent. In this report, we discuss what may happen to the contribution from the elderly to voluntary work and family care, and to their health, if fifty percent of the cohorts continue to work until they reach the age of 70. An important question is for example whether paid work might come to crowd out voluntary work. The report is based on descriptive analyses comparing working indivi-duals and pensioners in the age range 62-69, in relation to voluntary work, caring for a partner or parents, looking after grandchildren, and health status. We use the NorLAG study, a national representative survey conducted in 2007-2008. Despite being 10 years old, it is still the most suitable dataset due to its scope and the topics covered. With today's situation as the starting point, we consider a hypothetical situation where close to three times as many individuals remain in paid work until they turn 70, and the consequences this may have for the participation in voluntary work and family care, and health status, among people in their sixties. The outcome of this hypothetical situation we reflect on is not a given, and the conclusions are open for discussion and alternative interpretations. The results from the NorLAG analyses show that relatively few indivi-duals in their sixties participate extensively in voluntary organizational work today. There is close to no difference between pensioners and those that are still in the labor force in this regard. Helping individuals outside of the closest family is also something few individuals in their sixties do with any frequency. Here we find a small tendency for pensioners to give assistance more often than workers do, particularly among individuals in the last half of their sixties. Both when comparing workers and pensioners at any given time, and when looking at individual changes over time, the conclusion is that grand-parents' work activity does not appear to be a hindrance when it comes to look-ing after grandchildren. Since in most of the cases, the childcare takes place either weekly or monthly, it is, not surprisingly, possible to combine such activity with a job. In fact, looking after grandchildren is more common among working sixty-year-olds than among those that are not working, alleviating any fears that prolonging working lives would reduce the amount of care by grand-parents for their grandchildren. Increasing the labor force participation among individuals in their sixties does not appear to mean a higher risk of society losing an important source of care between partners or from grown children to elderly parents. Few indivi-duals in their sixties provide such care today. Furthermore, there is little to suggest that work activity has any strong impact on the tendency to contribute. Individuals that are still in paid work in their sixties have better perceived (subjective) health than pensioners do. Mental health varies considerably less with work status, but there is a slightly higher prevalence of depressive symp-toms among pensioners than among workers. This health difference is mainly the result of individuals in poor health in general leaving the workforce earlier than individuals in good health do. The effects in itself of retiring versus continuing to work are more complex, but there seems to be a slightly larger number of people benefitting from leaving early compared to the number of people benefitting from leaving late. However, the largest group of individuals appears to be those that experience no significant changes in their health whether they continue working or retire within the five-year period covered by the NorLAG data. All in all our analyses indicate that it is possible to prolong labor force participation until the age of 70 for up to 50 percent of the cohorts and at the same time maintain the age group's contribution to voluntary work and family care. It is more unclear whether increased work force participation is compatible with an increase in voluntary work and family care from the elderly. Then again, potential increases do not have to happen in all areas for all individuals; while some may remain in the labor force for longer, others may do more voluntary work or take on more care responsibilities in the family. It is harder to predict the effects of an increase in work activity for the general health status among individuals in their sixties, as health clearly varies with work status while at the same time many different factors determine the consequences of retirement on health. ; Å få flere seniorer til å stå lenger i arbeid, er en tverrpolitisk målsetting begrunnet ut fra behovet for å begrense pensjonsutgifter og sikre arbeidskraft i årene framover. Men høyere yrkesdeltakelse blant eldre kan også tenkes å få konsekvenser på andre områder. Denne rapportens analyser tyder på at det er mulig å opprettholde aldersgruppens bidrag til frivillig arbeid og familieomsorg dersom yrkesdeltakelsen fram til fylte 70 år øker til 50 prosent. Det er mer usikkert i hvilken grad økt yrkesdeltakelse lar seg forene med økt frivillig innsats og økt familieomsorg fra eldre. Det er også usikkert hvordan den generelle helsestatusen i aldersgruppen kan påvirkes av økt yrkesdeltakelse, og rapporten diskuterer virkninger på helsa under ulike forutsetninger.

A key issue in policy debates on active ageing is how to increase older people's participation in both paid and unpaid work. This combined goal raises the question of whether the different activities compete for seniors' time and energy or whether it is possible to achieve both, since such activities may instead complement one another. To address this issue, we examine associations between paid work, informal help provision and formal volunteering among 62- to 75-year-olds by using longitudinal data from the Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation Study (2007, 2017). Our analyses show that both work exit and part-time work are associated with a higher probability of doing unpaid work in senior years compared with full-time work. However, previous engagement in unpaid activities matters considerably, regardless of paid work status. Individuals involved in informal help or formal voluntary work in 2007 were far more likely to do unpaid work 10 years later than those who were not involved. Since seniors who are already engaged in unpaid activities before leaving the labour market are likely to continue to provide informal help and volunteer, we argue that initiatives to stimulate combinations of paid and unpaid work in late careers may be advantageous. ; The NorLAG survey data collections have been financed by the Research Council of Norway and four Norwegian government ministries, the Norwegian Directorate of Health, the Norwegian State Housing Bank, Statistics Norway and NOVA at Oslo Metropolitan University. ; publishedVersion

The Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation Study (NorLAG) was set up to gain new and updated knowledge on ageing and age-related changes in Norway. The nationwide, population-based study includes information on core life domains for 11 028 men and women born between 1922 and 1966. NorLAG combines longitudinal survey data from three waves (2002, 2007 and 2017) with secondary annual data from the public registers that provide time series on financial information, civil status and educational attainment for up to 50 years (1967 to 2017). NorLAG1 comprises 5555 respondents aged 40 years and older at the time of interview, the expanded NorLAG2 sample counts 9238 respondents (including 68% of the NorLAG1 participants) and NorLAG3 includes a total of 6099 respondents (aged 50–95). Topics covered include health and care, wellbeing and mastery, work and retirement, and family and intergenerational relationships. Information on context, timing of events and close family enables the construction of interdependent trajectories and pathways for men and women from mid-life to old age. Access to the NorLAG data is facilitated through the national research infrastructure ACCESS Life Course. Data are available via the online portal at [https://norlag.nsd.no], hosted by Norwegian Social Research at Oslo Metropolitan University and the Norwegian Centre for Research data. ; The NorLAG survey data collections have been financed by the Research Council of Norway, four Norwegian Government Ministries, the Norwegian Directorate of Health, the Norwegian State Housing Bank, Statistics Norway and NOVA at Oslo Metropolitan University. ; publishedVersion