Factors associated with employment status among older people in Myanmar

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the factors associated with employment status among older people in Myanmar. Similar to other developing countries, Myanmar is becoming an ageing society while social welfare for older people is far behind the developed countries. In Myanmar, one-third of households with older people live below the poverty line. Many older people have faced inadequate household income, social protection schemes and insufficient health insurance. Typically, the financial support of older people depends on their family members. However, family support is limited due to the declining fertility and high rate of migration. This study utilized secondary data of the '2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census' which included 43,473 older people aged 60 and over. Descriptive and bivariate analyses are used to show demographic characteristics of respondents. Logistic regression for multivariate analysis is used to predict factors associated with employment status among older people in Myanmar. The findings of the study show that older males aged 60-69, low-educated and married were more likely to work. According to living arrangement, older people living alone and living with spouse only tended to participate in workforce. Moreover, older people having migrant children were more likely to work compared to their counterparts having no migrant child. The results suggest that older people necessarily participate in economic activities due to their personal preferences and perception. To avoid labour shortage due to ageing population, older people should be retained in labour market. Therefore, the government should provide job opportunities without age discrimination for older people, in addition, the government should develop health care systems in Myanmar in order to improve older people's working conditions as well as their well-being