Publications by Eric Toder for Retirement Policy
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More about Eric Toder's areas of expertise can be found on this Urban Institute expert's page.
Are Low-Wage Workers Destined for Low Income at Retirement? (Series/Older Americans' Economic Security)Author(s): Barbara Butrica,
Eric ToderLow-wage workers find it difficult to save for retirement. Without savings, they will have to rely on Social Security and pensions. Yet these income sources are based on earnings, which means that low-wage workers will have lower Social Security and pension benefits than higher-wage workers. This brief assesses whether boomers with low earnings between ages 22 and 62 are destined for low income at age 67. We find that nearly two-thirds of this group will end up with low income at retirement, but more than one-third will manage to defy the odds and escape being among the lowest-income older Americans.
| Posted: September 26, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Distributional Analysis of Pension and Social Security Reforms (Research Report)Author(s): Eric ToderIn April 2008, the Urban Institute convened an expert panel of researchers inside and outside of government agencies to discuss how best to perform distributional analyses of proposals to reform Social Security and private pensions. The panel discussed key technical issues, including how to measure the baseline income distribution and characterize current policies, how to address changes that alter the timing of taxes and benefits, and how to measure and report gains and losses from policy interventions. The group revealed diverse viewpoints, but we conclude that current methods used in recent UI research fall within the range of reasonable alternatives.
| Posted: September 16, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Boomers at the Bottom: How Will Low Income Boomers Cope with Retirement (Research Report)Author(s): Barbara Butrica,
Eric Toder,
Desmond TooheyThis study uses the Urban Institute's DYNASIM model to project wealth and income at retirement for low-income boomers. The findings suggest that most with low lifetime earnings will also have low incomes at older ages unless they either continue working or move in with others who help support them financially. Saving more, working more consistently over their lifetime, and delaying retirement is projected to improve outcomes for low-earning boomers, but none of these actions will increase retirement living standards dramatically.
| Posted: September 16, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Will Employers Want Aging Boomers? (Series/The Retirement Project Discussion Papers)Author(s): Gordon Mermin,
Richard W. Johnson,
Eric ToderBoomers will probably want to work longer than earlier cohorts, but their continued work requires that employers hire and retain them. Employers value older workers for their maturity, experience and work ethic, but worry about out of date skills and high costs. Slower overall labor supply growth will increase demand for older workers and occupations with higher shares of older workers will increase modestly as a share of all jobs. Future jobs will require less physical demands and more cognitive and interpersonal skills, trends that favor educated older workers, but job opportunities for less educated older workers may remain limited.
| Posted: July 23, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Capitalizing on the Economic Value of Older Adults' Work (Occasional Paper)Author(s): Eric Toder,
Richard W. Johnson,
Gordon Mermin,
Serena LeiIncreasing older people's employment rates could reduce the economic pressures of an aging population, and many older adults say they want to delay retirement. Yet, numerous public policies and private practices continue to encourage early retirement. The Urban Institute, with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, sponsored an October 2007 roundtable to examine the value of older adults' work. Researchers, practitioners, employers, and policymakers discussed the potential supply of and demand for older workers, the benefits of working longer, barriers to continued employment, and policy solutions to encourage work at older ages. This document summarizes the issues and discussion.
| Posted: May 13, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
How the Income Tax Treatment of Saving and Social Security Benefits May Affect Boomers' Retirement Incomes (Series/The Retirement Project Occasional Papers)Author(s): Barbara Butrica,
Karen E. Smith,
Eric ToderIncome tax provisions affect the buildup of retirement assets during workers' careers and after-tax income following retirement. This paper uses the Urban Institute's DYNASIM model to simulate how potential changes in the tax treatment of retirement saving, Social Security benefits, and income from assets outside retirement accounts may affect boomers' retirement incomes. Changes in the income thresholds for taxing Social Security benefits have the largest impact on middle-income boomers, while changes in contribution limits for retirement saving plans and tax rates on capital gains and dividends have the largest impact on the highest-income boomers.
| Posted: March 14, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Current Strategies to Employ and Retain Older Workers (Research Report)Author(s): Lauren Eyster,
Richard W. Johnson,
Eric ToderAs the U.S. population ages and the number of people reaching traditional retirement ages increases, employers need to do more to attract and retain older workers, many of whom are highly experienced, knowledgeable, and skilled. Successful approaches include offering formal and informal phased retirement options and creating flexible work arrangements, such as part-time work, flexible schedules, job sharing, telework arrangements, and snowbird programs. Federal, state, and local governments, as well as nonprofit organizations and post-secondary educational institutions, help older workers find employment and secure job training. They also educate employers about the value of older workers.
| Posted: March 07, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Modeling Income in the Near Term 5 (Research Report)Author(s): Karen E. Smith,
Melissa Favreault,
Caroline Ratcliffe,
Barbara Butrica,
Eric ToderThis report describes the work the Urban Institute performed to generate the Model of Income in the Near Term, Version 5 (MINT5). MINT is a tool developed for The Division of Policy Evaluation (DPE) of the Social Security Administration (SSA) to analyze the distributional consequences of Social Security reform proposals. MINT is a micro-level data file of individuals born between 1926 and 2018. It starts with a rich set of income and demographic characteristics from the 1990 to 1996 Survey of Income and Program Particpation (SIPP) data linked to SSA data on earnings and benefits. MINT then projects these characteristics until death or the year 2099.
| Posted: November 19, 2007 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
KiwiSaver Evaluation Literature Review (Research Report)Author(s): Eric Toder,
Surachai KhitatrakunKiwiSaver is a new saving incentive program in New Zealand that requires automatic enrollment of all new employees, with an option to opt out. KiwiSaver also subsidizes participation, but its subsidies are smaller than tax subsidies for saving in qualified retirement plans in the United States. Recent research shows that using automatic enrollment as a default rule substantially increases participation in retirement saving plans, but evidence on whether saving incentives plans increase net saving is mixed. KiwiSaver is the first large-scale test of whether default rules can be more effective than financial incentives in increasing retirement saving.
| Posted: December 29, 2006 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Making Maximum Use of Tax-Deferred Retirement Accounts (Research Report)Author(s): Janette Kawachi,
Karen E. Smith,
Eric ToderMost workers do not contribute the maximum allowable amount to employer-sponsored tax-deferred retirement plans. The share of maximum contributors increased between 1990 and 2003, as did the percentage of participants who contribute the maximum or at least 10 percent of earnings. But virtually all the growth in maximum contributors came from groups with high shares of maximum contributors in 1990. Recent increases in contribution limits can be expected to reduce shares of maximum contributors, but raise relative shares of maximum contributors among high-earning and education groups. Increases in contribution limits do little to increase retirement preparedness among lower-income groups.
| Posted: March 17, 2006 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
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