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Working for a Good Retirement

Author

Listed:
  • Barbara A Butrica
  • Karen Elizabeth Smith
  • C. Eugene Steuerle
Abstract
Workers drain national resources in two ways when they retire – they begin collecting Social Security and Medicare benefits and they stop paying federal income and payroll taxes. Policies that encourage workers to delay retirement and increase labor supply could generate more gains to individuals, the retirement system, and the economy than other types of Social Security reforms. Drawing on the Urban Institute’s Dynamic Simulation of Income model (DYNASIM3), this report examines how delaying retirement for non-disabled workers would affect individual retiree benefits, the solvency of the Social Security trust fund, and general revenues. The results suggest that delaying retirement by itself does not generate enough additional revenue to make Social Security solvent by 2045. That is, even if everyone delayed their retirement by five years, benefit cuts or supplementary funding sources will be necessary to achieve solvency. However, the size of the benefit cuts or tax increases could be minimized if individuals worked longer. This additional work also substantially increases worker’s retirement well-being. Lower-income workers, to the extent they can work longer, have the most to gain from their additional labor. Policy changes that encourage work at older ages will substantially improve both economic and personal wellbeing in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Barbara A Butrica & Karen Elizabeth Smith & C. Eugene Steuerle, 2006. "Working for a Good Retirement," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2006-8, Center for Retirement Research, revised May 2006.
    • Handle: RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2006-8
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    File URL: http://crr.bc.edu/working-papers/working-for-a-good-retirement/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Gruber & David A. Wise, 2004. "Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Micro-Estimation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number grub04-1.
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    7. Barbara A. Butrica & Richard W. Johnson & Karen Elizabeth Smith & C. Eugene Steuerle, 2004. "Does Work Pay at Older Ages?," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2004-30, Center for Retirement Research, revised Nov 2004.
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard W. Johnson & Janette Kawachi, 2007. "Job Changes at Older Ages: Effects on Wages, Benefits, and Other Job Attributes," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2007-04, Center for Retirement Research, revised Feb 2007.
    2. Yusuke Miyake & Masaya Yasuoka, 2018. "Subsidy Policy and Elderly Labor," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(2), pages 331-347, July.
    3. Minoru Watanabe & Masaya Yasuoka, 2021. "Elderly Labour and Unemployment," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 33(2), pages 200-214, July.
    4. Alpert, Abby & Powell, David, 2014. "Estimating Intensive and Extensive Tax Responsiveness: Do Older Workers Respond to Income Taxes?," Working Papers 987-1, RAND Corporation.
    5. Butrica, Barbara A. & Karamcheva, Nadia S, 2020. "Is Rising Household Debt Affecting Retirement Decisions?," IZA Discussion Papers 13182, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Joanna Lahey, 2008. "State Age Protection Laws and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(3), pages 433-460, August.
    7. Natalia Zhivan & Steven A. Sass & Margarita Sapozhnikov & Kelly Haverstick, 2008. "An "Elastic" Earliest Eligibility Age for Social Security," Issues in Brief ib2008-8-2, Center for Retirement Research, revised Feb 2008.
    8. Abby Alpert & David Powell, 2014. "Estimating Intensive and Extensive Tax Responsiveness Do Older Workers Respond to Income Taxes?," Working Papers WR-987-1, RAND Corporation.
    9. Gopi Shah Goda, 2007. "Implicit Social Security Tax Rates over the Life Cycle," Discussion Papers 06-021, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    10. Patricia Peinado & Felipe Serrano, 2011. "A Dynamic Analysis of the Effect of Social Security Reform on Spanish Widow Pensioners," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 58(5), pages 759-771, December.
    11. Robert Clark & Melinda Morrill, 2013. "Increasing Work Life: The Role Of The Employer," Discussion Papers 13-016, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    12. Teresa Ghilarducci & Michael Papadopoulos & Anthony Webb, 2020. "The Illusory Benefits of Working Longer on Financial Preparedness for Retirement," SCEPA working paper series. 2020-02, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    13. C. Eugene Steuerle, 2010. "Why we must untie our fiscal straightjacket: A response to Henry J. Aaron," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 891-893.

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