RELAB POLICY NOTE | A growing pool of American older workers (age 55 and over) must continue working or seeking work because their retirement income is inadequate.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | A brief analysis of the 2022 round of the Survey of Consumer Finance indicates that the middle 70% of households by income that are aged 50-65 have a median retirement account savings of $86,000, while also having a median debt of $89,700. 

RELAB POLICY NOTE | How are older debtors and their retirement savings impacted by student loans? Our analysis of the data shows that millions of older workers in the U.S. have significant student debt that may hinder their ability to retire comfortably.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Official U.S. poverty rates significantly undercount America’s elderly poor. According to internationally-recognized relative poverty measures, more than 12 million older Americans are poor.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | What do surveys say about how Americans feel about their ability to retire? Our analysis shows Americans hold a wide range of anxiety about their retirement futures

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Why does the United States’ pension system perform poorly compared with systems in other countries?

RELAB WORKING PAPER | This essay surveys global pension developments and intellectual basis for pension reform in the last 40 years.

RELAB WORKING PAPER | When we examine unemployment and discouraged workers, are we getting the full picture? A deeper dive into the data suggests that official rates of unemployment are missing millions of people.

RELAB WORKING PAPER | Unpaid eldercare provided by friends and family comes with costs to caregivers, including the limitations eldercare responsibilities may place on labor force participation and work hours.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | America’s eldercare system relies on families to provide care to aging adults, leaving those without family or wealth particularly vulnerable to having their care needs go unmet.

RELAB POLICY NOTE |The Social Security benefit structure penalizes people who claim before age 70. Yet over one-fifth of eligible people claim before their full retirement age (age 67 for those born in 1960), and over 90 percent claim before the maximum age of 70, resulting in reduced monthly benefits.

RELAB WORKING PAPER | Since 1992 wealth for the bottom 90% of households nearing retirement has fallen. Using SCF and HRS data over 20 years, we find the bulk of working-class wealth is government social insurance.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Challenging the widespread assumption that people claim their retirement benefits only when they retire, more than one-fifth of older workers in the United States start claiming Social Security benefits as soon as they are eligible, even while working for pay.

RELAB WORKING PAPER | This article documents risks and disparities among older workers in the labor force and in retirement preparedness and explores the links between labor market challenges facing older workers and retirement insecurity.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | In the United States, high overall rates of home ownership among households aged 55–64 obscure a vital reality. Many low-income older households risk financial fragility because they are renters and high rent burdens inhibit their ability to save for emergencies.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Unpaid care work — the vast majority of such work in the United States — is primarily shouldered by economically vulnerable people.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | The slow return to normalcy after the Covid-19 pandemic has brought back a perennial risk to older workers’ wellbeing: financial fragility.

RELAB REPORT | Unfriendly Labor Markets for Older Workers Require Bold Moves for Retirement Savings: Analysis of Labor Force Engagement of Older People in Selected States

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Social Security is the most essential and well-functioning part of the U.S. retirement system. Any reforms to federal retirement policy—while necessary and long overdue—must be built on the foundation of a protected and strengthened Social Security system.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Up to 40 percent of middle-income workers are at risk of downward mobility into poverty or near-poverty in retirement because of an inefficient retirement system that disproportionately benefits those with high incomes.