Pension trends in the United States, marked by the movement toward defined contribution (DC) plans, raise questions about the individual characteristics that influence retirement saving behavior. This study examines how DC participants' industry and employer characteristics relate to the...

This article explores how faster rates of wage growth for college graduates than for nongraduates could affect the Social Security benefits of future retirees. Using a Social Security Administration microsimulation model called Modeling Income in the Near Term, the authors estimate the effect of...

Over the last three decades, earnings have grown faster for college graduates than for workers without a 4-year college degree. Such wage-growth differentials could affect the Social Security benefits and other retirement income of future retirees. A Social Security Administration...

Traditional defined benefit pensions, once a major source of retirement income, are increasingly giving way to tax-qualified defined contribution (DC) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). This trend is likely to continue among future retirees who have worked in the private sector....

The deduction of Medicare premiums from Social Security benefit payments complicates the estimation of Social Security income in household surveys. Although the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS) and Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) both aim to collect and record...

In recent decades, employers have increasingly replaced defined benefit (DB) pensions with defined contribution (DC) retirement accounts for their employees. DB plans provide annuities, or lifetime benefits paid at regular intervals. The timing and amounts of DC distributions, however, may vary...

Based on data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this paper describes trends in the amounts and sources of income received by Americans, aged 55 and older from 1998 to 2008. It presents data on changes in the amount of income received by older Americans in 1998 and 2008, and how the...