Suchergebnisse

Reports that the Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted sometime in the early part of the next century reinforce the need to make retirement policy in the United States more accommodating for those who want to work. While there is general agreement that disincentives to work at older ages in both Social Security and employer pension plans played an important role in the dramatic drop in retirement age from 1945 through 1985, skepticism exists over the ability of policy changes to both stop this trend and increase work at older ages. In this policy brief we summarize how government policy has influenced retirement since the end of World War II, show that reductions in some of the anti-work aspects of our retirement system in the 1980s appear to have ended the trend toward earlier and earlier retirement, and offer five pro-work policies which would increase work for twenty-first century older Americans.

Recent trends toward earlier retirement threaten future supplies of labor & the financial stability of many public & private pension systems. One of the few federal efforts to reverse this trend has been the 1977 law outlawing mandatory retirement before age 70 for most US workers. This legislation by itself will have little effect on retirement patterns, because strong financial incentives to retire remain imbedded in the system. Changes in the Social Security Act enacted in 1983 recognize these incentives, but are highly controversial & at best will not begin to go into effect until 1990. To be successful, efforts of policymakers to increase work at older ages must focus on financial incentives rather than merely on attempting to weaken mandatory retirement constraints. 2 Tables, 1 Figure. HA.