Publications by Owen Haaga for Retirement Policy

Social Security claiming behavior matters because early claimants receive lower monthly benefits for the rest of their lives. Early claiming fell over the past decade, after increasing over the previous 10 years. However, high unemployment encourages early claiming by less-educated men. A 1 percentage point increase in the state unemployment rate is associated with a 0.4 percentage point increase in the monthly claiming probability by men who never attended college, implying that the Great Recession boosted their claiming rates by about 40 percent. In contrast, claiming behavior by women and well-educated men is not significantly correlated with the unemployment rate.

This report assesses the employment experiences and economic well-being of African Americans age 50 and older. Despite progress over the past three decades, these African American workers continue to struggle in the workplace. Older African American men are less likely to work than Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites, whereas older African American women are as likely to work as non-Hispanic whites and more likely to work than Hispanics. Fifty-plus African American men and women both earn less than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. The black-white earnings gap after age 50 narrowed between 1979 and 1999 but widened in the 2000s.

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