Older Americans have been retiring later for a number of reasons, including jobs that are becoming less physically demanding, the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pensions, and changes in Social Security's incentives. What are the implications of working longer for workers'...

Over the past few decades, U.S. income inequality has grown, with high earners experiencing disproportionate growth. This pattern has increased the top earners' share of national income and reduced the share of earnings taxable by Social Security from 87.1 percent to 82.7 percent since 1994,...

Some studies have found that contingent workers – including independent contractors, consultants, and those in temporary, on-call, and “gig economy” jobs – make up an increasing share of the labor force. How does this group of workers interact with Social Security Disability Insurance...

Evaluations of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) applications are based not just on poor health, but in most cases consider the vocational factors of age, education and work experience to determine whether individuals can work. These criteria indicate that SSDI applicants must not only...

Changing jobs after age 50 has become increasingly common. To assess the employment opportunities available to these job-changers, this study examines how the range of occupations in which they find jobs narrows as they age and whether this pattern differs by socioeconomic status, using...

The increase in female labor force participation coupled with a higher number of women reaching retirement unmarried has increased the share of women claiming Social Security benefits earned through their own job histories. But they still bear the lion's share of caregiving responsibilities, and...

The adequacy of retirement income – from Social Security benefits and other sources – is substantially reduced by Medicare's high out-of-pocket (OOP) costs. This project uses the 2002-2014 Health and Retirement Study to calculate post-OOP benefit ratios, defined as the share of either Social...

Any worker who delays claiming Social Security receives a larger monthly benefit due to the actuarial adjustment. Some claimants – particularly women, who are more likely to take time out of the labor force early in their careers – can further increase their benefit if the extra years of...

The U.S. government subsidizes retirement saving through 401(k) plans with $61.4 billion in tax expenditures annually, but the question of whether these tax incentives are effective in increasing saving remains unanswered. Using longitudinal U.S. Social Security Administration data on...