The Long-Reach Effect of Institutional Protection: Public-Sector Employment, Intergenerational Resources, and Multidimensional Health in Later Life

Population aging has increased attention to how employment-based institutional protection and family resources are associated with health in later life. Drawing on life-course theory and welfare pluralism, this study examines the association between public-sector employment and multidimensional health impairment among older adults, focusing on the mediating roles of individual income and children’s socioeconomic status (SES). Using four waves of the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) conducted between 2016 and 2023, the study analyses 24,331 individual-wave observations. Multidimensional health impairment is measured across six dimensions: self-rated health, cognitive health, activities of daily living, depressive symptoms, chronic diseases and social functioning. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW), propensity score matching (PSM) and inverse probability weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA) are used to reduce selection bias due to observable factors, while bootstrap mediation analysis examines the indirect pathways.The results show that public-sector employment is significantly associated with lower multidimensional health impairment (β = -0.165, p < 0.001), equivalent to 8.3% of the sample mean. Individual income and children’s SES account for approximately 15.4% and 17.0% of the total association, respectively. A sequential pathway from public-sector employment through individual income and children’s SES to later-life health is also identified. Moreover, the health advantage associated with public-sector employment decreases as children’s SES increases. Robustness analyses yield consistent results. These findings suggest that institutional advantages may extend across occupational stages through individual resource accumulation and intergenerational transmission, while family resources may partially compensate for limitations in formal institutional protection.