Work, retirement, health and care: An introduction to the WHERL Project

15 April 2015

In this presentation at the Department of Social Science, Health & Medicine’s Seminar series on the 15th of April 2015, Karen Glaser and Laurie Corna, introduced the programme of research addressed in the Wellbeing, Health, Retirement and the Lifecourse (WHERL) project.  WHERL is a cross-research council consortium that aims to assess the lifecourse determinants for health and wellbeing of working up to and beyond the state pension age, with a particular focus on the social stratification of health and economic wellbeing among older adults.  Preliminary results from the first workpackage were presented which models the detailed employment and family histories of current cohorts of older adults.  It  shows how gender and cohort have important implications for understanding the lives of older adults as they approach the traditional retirement years.  Preliminary findings were also presented showing the associations between employment histories, social circumstances at age 55, and subsequent employment.