The National Academies Press

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Pages 175-194

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From page 175... ... Retirement Savings Policies Government policies that support saving for retirement may increase the likelihood that workers nearing traditional retirement ages have adequate resources to retire. Adequacy of Retirement Saving There is an active debate in the literature over whether people are saving enough for retirement. Read the entire page →
From page 176... ... Most plans have both early and normal retirement ages, and the benefit amount is often adjusted for claiming age in a way that creates strong financial incentives to work to these ages and retire and claim thereafter -- for example, increasing for each year the worker delays between the early and normal retirement ages (Stock and Wise, 1990) Read the entire page →
From page 177... ... or another retirement account or withdraw them. Some defined contribution plans allow employees to annuitize account balances. Read the entire page →
From page 178... ... federal government provides $250 billion per year in tax incentives for retirement saving through defined contribution plans and IRAs (Tax Policy Center, 2020) Read the entire page →
From page 179... ... Finally, providing financial incentives for retirement savings in the form of a tax deduction favors high-income workers, who face higher marginal tax rates; an alternative would be to offer tax credits, which do not depend on tax rate. A few programs have aimed to promote retirement savings for low-income workers who lack access to employer-provided pensions. Read the entire page →
From page 180... ... Established in 1965 through Title XVIII of the Social Security Act, Medicare provides health insurance to people age 65 or older and to SSDI beneficiaries (after a two-year waiting period) .24 The Medicare program has several components: Part A, which covers inpatient hospital services; Part B, which provides physician and outpatient services; Part D, which offers prescription drug coverage; and Part C, or Medicare Advantage, which allows beneficiaries to enroll in a private insurance plan for their Part A, B, and D benefits.25 Most Medicare beneficiaries pay no premiums for Part A benefits but have premiums for Parts B and D as well as deductibles and co-insurance payments (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2015) Read the entire page →
From page 181... ... estimates that the labor force participation rate of men ages 23 to 62 would be 0.7 percentage points higher if Medicare benefits were not available to SSDI beneficiaries. In recent years, there have been calls to raise the Medicare eligibility age to 67, matching the rise in the Social Security FRA. Read the entire page →
From page 182... ... Stronger state-based age discrimination laws do not reduce the hiring of older workers. • Mandatory retirement has been abolished in the United States since 1986 (except in a few occupations) Read the entire page →
From page 183... ... Findings: Policies to Support Financial Security • SSDI provides income support to individuals experiencing a long-term work-limiting disability. Growth in SSDI over time has been driven by changes in medical stringency, population aging, rising female labor force participation, and economic factors. Read the entire page →
From page 184... ... Certain groups continue to have very low levels of retirement savings, decades after the introduction of IRAs and the start of the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pensions. Several programs designed to benefit low-income savers have had mixed results. Read the entire page →
From page 185... ... However, there is evidence that stronger age discrimination protections did not benefit older workers during the Great Recession (Neumark and Button, 2014) Read the entire page →
From page 187... ... Part III Read the entire page →
From page 189... ... Taken together, an aging workforce, extended healthy life expectancy, mounting inequality, new technologies, heightened economic and job precarity, and changes to social support policies mean that work arrangements among older adults are in flux. Instead of viewing full-time retirement as a one-time event and an inevitable end of one's work engagement, growing numbers of older adults are sustaining various forms of workforce participation even though they are retired from their main or career jobs (Chapter 3) Read the entire page →
From page 190... ... DEFINING A RESEARCH AGENDA These overarching conclusions provide the context for a future research and data collection agenda. Work and retirement preferences, expectations, and behaviors are shaped by many factors that operate at different levels of analysis, including continuity and change in individual and family characteristics and resources, workplace policies and practices, age discrimination, labor market opportunities, and social policies. Read the entire page →
From page 191... ... The employer-employee relationship translates national policies into organizational practices that set the stage for individual decisions to continue in their current job, accept a similar position at another firm, transition to bridge employment or part-time work, or leave the labor force. To ignore this relationship in understanding late-career behavior and outcomes has major repercussions for getting a clearer picture of the way older adults approach workforce participation and retirement. Read the entire page →
From page 192... ... Though this relationship is crucial to understanding the purpose of various workplace policies and practices affecting older workers, few researchers account for employer and employee interests and the institutional context when analyzing workplace policies and practices affecting older workers. Moreover, little research examines the potential role of employee voice in shaping the organi zational practices and context that affect older workers. Read the entire page →
From page 193... ... Research examining the implementation of technology in the workplace, including the reasons for its introduction and the impact it has on the health, well-being, and employment opportunities of older workers, is important for understanding both its benefits and its role in limiting older workers' job opportunities. CONCLUSION 1.4: Little research has focused on the implementation of enabling technologies in the workplace and, although the effects of technological innovation on job elimination have been examined, their impact on older workers specifically has not. Read the entire page →
From page 194... ... The Role of Age Discrimination Workplace age discrimination can occur in many forms, some of which are subtle or complex, presenting significant measurement and methodological challenges (Chapter 6) Read the entire page →

From page 175...

... Retirement Savings Policies Government policies that support saving for retirement may increase the likelihood that workers nearing traditional retirement ages have adequate resources to retire. Adequacy of Retirement Saving There is an active debate in the literature over whether people are saving enough for retirement.