Full Citation
Title: Why Are Older Americans Working More Nowadays?
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2017
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: Both labor force participation and hours per worker of seniors, individuals above age 62, have been growing steadily in the US since the mid 1980s. This is in contrast to the long decline in the labor supply of seniors that began as early as in the 1950s. This paper uses data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to estimate a life-cycle model of labor supply, retirement, and wealth accumulation in order to contrast the labor supply behavior of two cohorts in the US: individuals born after the World War I (”the Great Depression Kids”), and those born after the World War II (”the Baby Boomers”). The paper focuses on the differences between these two cohorts in earning and health dynamics as well as policies that they face, a gradual increase in Normal Retirement Age and the elimination of the Earnings Test in 2000, as potential sources of change. The results show that the effects of policies and policy-unrelated factors are of similar magnitude. The elimination of the Earnings Test had the biggest impact of all policies. Jointly, the rise in out-of-pocket medical expenditures and the increase in life expectancy are the dominant factors among non policy-related ones.
Url: http://alexey-filatov.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Filatov_JMP-1.pdf
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Filatov, Alexey
Publisher: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Aging and Retirement, Health, Labor Force and Occupational Structure
Countries: