The Effect of Retirement on Weight Gain
- Presenter:
Chair: David Meltzer Tue June 6, 2006 13:45-15:15 Room 335
Work and occupation are powerful predictors of weight, since individuals’ exercise patterns are heavily influenced by the kind of work they do. As a result, retirement can have very different effects on weight and health for different kinds of workers. We show that workers retiring from sedentary jobs end up losing weight, as they are no longer paid to be sedentary during the day. Conversely, workers retiring from strenuous jobs gain weight, since they are no longer paid to exercise. In spite of similar weight trajectories pre-retirement, retirees from strenuous jobs gain about 0.5 more BMI units than retirees from sedentary jobs.
