Health capacity to work of the older adults in China: evidence from CHIPs

ABSTRACT This study attempts to estimate how much older adults would work if they were to work as much as middle-aged adults with the same health status in China. Using data from the China Household Income Project survey in 2013 and 2018, and based on the Milligan–Wise and CMR models, three main findings emerge: first, an untapped additional work capacity exists for those in the group aged 60–69, which comprises 29.8–65.8% of urban residents and 4.4–22.4% of rural residents. Second, additional work capacity is higher for urban residents with higher levels of education than for their counterparts, and the educational disparity in work capacity is greater for urban residents than for rural residents. Third, the decomposition results indicate that changes in health status contributed to increased potential work capacity for urban residents while decreasing that of rural residents.