View Research by Author - Corina Mommaerts

Publications

Working longer is often hailed as the best way to increase retirement incomes, yet this strategy depends crucially on seniors’ ability to find work and hold on to their jobs. This study examines how the incidence and consequences of job displacement vary by age. Results show that older workers are less likely than younger workers to lose their jobs, but only because they generally have spent more time with their employers. When older workers lose their jobs, it takes them longer than their younger counterparts to become reemployed, and when they do find work they generally experience sharp wage declines.

This study comparing retirement patterns over the past 30 years finds that older adults are now working longer and taking more complex routes out of the labor force. More than 40 percent of men born 1943 to 1947 did not retire by age 65, compared with only 20 percent of those born 1933 to 1937. Men and women born 1933 to 1937 were much more likely than those born 20 years earlier to move to part-time work at older ages and return to work after retiring instead of following the traditional route of retiring only once directly from full-time employment.

The 2009 economic downturn that pushed up unemployment rates did not spare older workers. Unemployment rates reached record highs in 2009 for men and women age 55 and older. Older African Americans, Hispanics, and adults with limited education were especially likely to find themselves unemployed. Older adults who lost their jobs spent more time out of work than their younger counterparts. There were some encouraging developments, however. Employment rates for adults age 62 and older did not fall because many older workers stayed in the labor force, and earnings for full-time workers age 65 and older grew substantially.

Rising health care costs threaten boomers' retirement security. In 2040, half of adults age 65 and older will spend at least 19 percent of their incomes on health care, up from 10 percent in 2010, if costs grow at the intermediate rate projected by the Medicare trustees. About 7 in 10 older Americans in the bottom two-fifths of the income distribution will spend more than 20 percent of their incomes on health care in 2040. These projections underscore the importance of controlling health care costs and the need for boomers to plan for future health care spending.

Questions persist about how well Social Security Disability Insurance, workers' compensation, Supplemental Security Income, and veterans' benefits protect people who are unable to work. This study examines disability benefit receipt, income, and poverty status for a sample of Americans as they age. The results underscore the precarious financial state of most people approaching traditional retirement age with disabilities. Fewer than half of people who meet our disability criteria ever receive disability benefits in their fifties or early sixties. Poverty rates for those who do are more than three times as high after benefit receipt than before disability onset.

A patchwork of public programs, including Social Security Disability Insurance, workers’ compensation, Supplemental Security Income, and veterans’ benefits, provides income supports to people with health problems who are unable to work. Yet, many Americans who develop disabilities in their fifties or early sixties fall into poverty. With millions of boomers entering their sixties—when work disability rates peak—it’s time to fix the social insurance safety net for disabled workers.

Record numbers of older men and women began collecting Social Security benefits in 2009. New awards surged last year partly because the age-62 population grew rapidly. More importantly, older Americans were much more likely to claim Social Security in 2009 than recent previous years, probably because many seniors were unable to find work. Social Security benefits provide an important safety net for unemployed older adults, but early claimants receive permanently reduced benefits, threatening their future economic well-being.

Although Medicare covers nearly all Americans age 65 and older, premiums, cost shares, and holes in the benefit package raise concerns about seniors' ability to pay for their health care. This brief, based on newly released data, shows that Medicare Part D, introduced in 2006 to cover prescription drugs, helped reduce out-of-pocket costs. The majority of older adults devoted less than one-eighth of their incomes to health care in 2006. However, nearly half of low-income seniors spent more than 20 percent of their 2006 incomes on health care. Medical costs for seniors should figure into the health-reform debate.

The unemployment rate for adults age 65 and older reached 6.8 percent in February 2009, the highest level recorded since the federal government began computing reliable unemployment rates in 1948. Senior unemployment rates were particularly high among African Americans, Hispanics, those who did not complete high school, and those in the construction, manufacturing, and leisure and hospitality industries.

As the recession enters its 15th month, job losses continue to accelerate. The downturn has not spared older workers. The January 2009 unemployment rate reached 6.0 percent at age 55 to 64 and 5.7 percent at age 65 and older. Hispanic men, older men working in construction and manufacturing, and those with limited education have been hit hardest.

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