Beware of Early Retirement

If you're offered early retirement, think it over carefully.  Apart from all the financial considerations, there’s a new apparent risk associated with leaving your workplace behind.  Early retirement may lead to early retirement of your memory, too.  A study suggesting this possibility is posted online in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, and it has caused quite a stir in the media.  

The economists used comparative survey data from the USA, England, and other European countries that compared cognitive ability test results and status in the labor force.  Memory tests were administered to people over 50, every 2 years;  a recall of a list of 10 nouns was conducted immediately after viewing the list, and 10 minutes later.  A perfect score would therefore be 20.  The average score for the US was 11, for Denmark and UK 10, for France 8, for Italy 7, and for Spain 6.  Retirement ages in the USA, Denmark and UK are later than in the other countries – 65-70% of men were still working in their early 60s.  In Spain only 10-20% of men were working in their early 60s, while in Spain the average was 38%.

In general, memory was generally worse in countries with an early retirement age, and better in those countries with later retirement.  This may reveal a weakness in the conclusions drawn – namely that early retirement is associated with poorer memory.  It’s possible that the different countries administered the study and memory tests differently, so that the findings could not be properly compared.  If the suggested conclusion is to be substantiated, data from individuals within the same system (country, organization, job type) needs to be analyzed.

One of the authors throws down a challenge.  “If you do crossword puzzles, you get better at crosswords.  If you do Sudoku, you get better at Sudoku.  But you don’t get better at cognitive behavior in life.”  To my mind, it remains to be proven that work actually helps to maintain cognitive function.  Maybe a study in a large organization comparing memory in people over 65 who are working fulltime vs. some working part-time?