scholarly journals Does Bridge Employment Mitigate or Exacerbate Inequalities Later in Life?

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 416-416
Author(s):  
Michael Giandrea ◽  
Joseph Quinn ◽  
Lawrence Sacco ◽  
Loretta Platts ◽  
Kevin Cahill
Keyword(s):  
Housing Wealth ◽  
Bridge Employment ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Wealth Inequalities ◽  
Social Security Benefits ◽  
Career Employment ◽  
Retirement Study ◽  
Total Wealth ◽  
Gradual Retirement

Abstract This paper explores how gradual retirement impacts inequality later in life, with a focus on transitions from career to bridge employment. We use 26 years of longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study to document the various pathways that older Americans take when exiting the labor force, and examine how bridge employment impacts non-housing wealth and total wealth, including the present discounted value of Social Security benefits. We find that gradual retirement in the form of bridge employment neither exacerbates nor mitigates wealth inequalities among Americans who held career jobs later in life. We do find evidence that wealth inequalities grow among the subset of older career workers who transition from career employment to bridge employer at older ages. These findings provide quantitative evidence that bridge employment at older ages is taken by those who need to continue working financially and those who continue working for nonpecuniary reasons.

In Debt and Approaching Retirement: Claim Social Security or Work Longer?

2018 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 401-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Butrica ◽  
Nadia S. Karamcheva
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Social Security Benefit ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
The Past ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Social Security Benefits ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Retirement Study

Over the past couple of decades, older Americans have become considerably more leveraged. This paper considers whether household debt affects the timing of retirement and Social Security benefit claiming. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we find that older adults with debt are more likely to work and less likely to receive Social Security benefits than those who are debt-free. Indebted adults are also more likely to delay fully retiring from the labor force and claiming their benefits. Among the sources of debt, mortgages have a stronger impact on older adults' behavior than do other sources of debt.

scholarly journals The Importance of Bridge Jobs in America Today

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 809-809
Author(s):  
Kevin Cahill
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Bridge Employment ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Macroeconomic Volatility ◽  
Phased Retirement ◽  
The Many ◽  
First Time ◽  
Retirement Study

Abstract Gradual retirement, consisting of phased retirement, bridge employment, and reentry, has been a persistent feature of older Americans’ work decisions for decades. This persistence is remarkable in light of the many changes to the retirement landscape that have taken place since the mid-1980s, including changes to Social Security incentives, private-sector pensions, and macroeconomic volatility. Our paper addresses two topics related to these retirement transitions. First, using 26 years of data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we quantify the prevalence of bridge employment among the initial group of HRS respondents. For the first time, bridge job prevalence can be calculated for a large cohort of older Americans who have completed their retirement transitions. Second, we comment on what these findings mean for policymakers, with respect to income inequality later in life, barriers to retirement pathways, and public-private sector differences, and what role public employers might be able to play.

scholarly journals Cystatin C Trajectories Among Middle-Aged and Older Americans

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 514-515
Author(s):  
Erfei Zhao ◽  
Eileen Crimmins ◽  
Jennifer Ailshire ◽  
Jung Ki Kim ◽  
Qiao Wu
Keyword(s):  
Cystatin C ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
Ethnic Difference ◽  
Socioeconomic Differences ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Growth Curve Models ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Retirement Study ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Deterioration in kidney functioning is associated with aging and is a major risk factor for mortality and other poor health outcomes. Medicare expenses for poor kidney functioning are about 100 billion dollars every year. High Cystatin-C is an indicator of poor kidney functioning. We do not know if cystatin-C increases gradually as an individual ages. We use the Health and Retirement Study 2006/2008 Biomarker sample with follow-up for 8 years to examine this. Demographic and socioeconomic differences in trajectories of Cystatin-C trajectories were examined for 22,984 participants aged 50 and older. Growth curve models reveal that, although Cystatin-C increases with age (beta=0.025, p<0.001), the annual increase varies by age (60-69 = 0.005, 70-79 = 0.013, 80+ = 0.017, p<0.001), controlling for other socioeconomic variables. Cystatin-C increases faster for males than females. Cystatin-C of non-Hispanic Whites is lower than non-Hispanic Blacks but higher than Hispanics; there is no racial/ethnic difference in change over time. People who spent fewer years in school have higher Cystatin-C, and college graduates have slower growth in Cystatin-C compared to people who did not graduate from high school. These novel findings highlight the disparities in the process of kidney aging among older Americans.

scholarly journals Older peoples' willingness to delay social security claiming

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Raimond Maurer ◽  
Olivia S. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Older Persons ◽  
Current System ◽  
Work Requirement ◽  
Lump Sum ◽  
Average Household Income ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Social Security Benefits ◽  
Retirement Study

Abstract We have designed and implemented an experimental module in the 2014 Health and Retirement Study to measure older persons' willingness to defer claiming of Social Security benefits. Under the current system’ status quo where delaying claiming boosts eventual benefits, we show that 46% of the respondents would delay claiming and work longer. If respondents were instead offered an actuarially fair lump sum payment instead of higher lifelong benefits, about 56% indicate they would delay claiming. Without a work requirement, the average amount needed to induce delayed claiming is only $60,400, while when part-time work is stipulated, the amount is slightly higher, $66,700. This small difference implies a low utility value of leisure foregone, of under 20% of average household income.

scholarly journals Reciprocal Effects Between Loneliness and Sleep Disturbance in Older Americans

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 1156-1164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah C. Griffin ◽  
Allison Baylor Williams ◽  
Samantha N. Mladen ◽  
Paul B. Perrin ◽  
Joseph M. Dzierzewski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sleep Disturbance ◽  
Path Analysis ◽  
Effective Treatment ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Reciprocal Effects ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Retirement Study ◽  
Item Scale ◽  
Over Time

Objectives: To model the relationship between loneliness and sleep disturbance over time. Method: Data came from the Health and Retirement Study (2006, 2010, 2014 waves; age ≥ 65 years; n = 5,067). Loneliness was measured via the Hughes Loneliness Scale and sleep disturbance via a four-item scale assessing sleep and restedness. Cross-lagged panel modeling (path analysis) was used to jointly examine reciprocal effects between loneliness and sleep disturbance. Results: Higher loneliness correlated with higher sleep disturbance at baseline. There was evidence of reciprocal effects between loneliness and sleep across timepoints. These associations overall remained when accounting for demographics, objective isolation, and depression. Discussion: Although causality cannot be established, the findings indicate that the relationship between loneliness and sleep disturbance is bidirectional. This requires revision to the current theory on sleep disturbance as a mechanism for the relationship between loneliness and health and indicates that effective treatment of sleep disturbance may reduce loneliness.

The power of working longer

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (04) ◽  
pp. 623-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gila Bronshtein ◽  
Jason Scott ◽  
John B. Shoven ◽  
Sita Nataraj Slavov
Keyword(s):  
Basic Result ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Relative Power ◽  
Income Levels ◽  
Labor Earnings ◽  
Retirement Saving ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Social Security Benefits ◽  
Retirement Study

AbstractThis paper compares the relative strengths of working longer vs. saving more in terms of increasing a household's affordable, sustainable standard of living in retirement. Both stylized households and actual households from the Health and Retirement Study are examined. We assume that workers commence Social Security benefits when they retire. The basic result is that delaying retirement by 3–6 months has the same impact on the retirement standard of living as saving an additional one-percentage point of labor earnings for 30 years. The relative power of saving more is even lower if the decision to increase saving is made later in the work life. For instance, increasing retirement saving by one percentage point 10 years before retirement has the same impact on the sustainable retirement standard of living as working between 1 and 2 months longer. The calculations of the relative power of working longer and saving more are done for a wide range of realized rates of returns on saving, for households with different income levels, and for singles as well as married couples. The results are quite invariant to these circumstances.

The Changing Face of Debt and Financial Fragility at Older Ages

2018 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 407-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annamaria Lusardi ◽  
Olivia S. Mitchell ◽  
Noemi Oggero
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implications ◽  
Financial Fragility ◽  
Health And Retirement Study ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Down Payments ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Retirement Study

We investigate changes in older individuals' financial fragility as they stand on the verge of retirement. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we compare how debt has changed for successive cohorts of people age 56–61. Our analysis shows that recent older Americans close to retirement hold more debt, and hence face greater financial insecurity, than earlier generations. This is primarily due to having bought more expensive homes with smaller down payments. We discuss possible policy implications.

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