I agree with that, the physical labor has been studied and experienced for quite some time now. But we need to look forward and see if there might be changes we cannot comprehend yet.

For example, we cannot yet google the software eng retirement age or the like. Assuming we started in 2005, average dude 25years old then hasn't retired yet and we don't know either where he/she's gone in 2035/45.

Software engineering as a popular career track goes back to the early 80s if I'm being extremely conservative.

There are plenty of retired software engineers that I know. Most of them retired because they wanted to do something different, and they had the money to do it. I don't know of any that have retired as a direct result of the physical effects on their body.

So…no back pain? :)

Purdue started CS degree program in the 60’s

Yeah I’m not talking about Kernighan & Ritchie et al. More like the big boom, zero interest rate and the huge demand of SWE that occurred 2010 onwards.

I’m sure the biggest early retirement factor is weight. Most guys in the trades were 50-150lbs overweight. That’s more ruinous to your back and body than anything you are likely to do at work. We had old guys working and one thing basically all of them had in common was being thin.

Completely anecdotal - but the guys I know in trades have a larger proportion that smoke/drink heavily compared to the office workers I know.

Would be curious if there’s a study that compares “health nut” physical trade workers with “health nut” office workers.

Still as you said, there’s a lot of risk with relying on physical capabilities for work.

If an office worker gets injured outside of work, you can still do the basic job.

If a physical tradeworker gets injured outside of work, you could be out of a paycheck.