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

RELAB REPORT | In the ever-evolving U.S. labor market landscape, the plight of older workers often remains overlooked.

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 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 | Contrary to the hope that technology and machines have made work easier for most, more than 25 percent of older white workers and over 40 percent of older Black and Hispanic workers toil in physically demanding jobs.

RELAB REPORT | With inflation now a top concern among the U.S. public, workers face a race between wage gains and price increases. Older workers, despite receiving better raises than they have in many years, are losing that race.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | During the pandemic, many older workers did not leave their jobs voluntarily but got pushed out of the labor force. Since March 2020, the size of the retired population between ages 55 and 74 expanded beyond its normal trend by an additional 1.1 million people.

WORKING PAPER | Since the early 1990s, disparities in Social Security claim ages has grown, with high earners increasingly likely to delay claiming. A SCEPA working paper explores the returns and effects of claiming Social Security earlier versus delaying claiming these benefits.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | SCEPA's research finds nearly 1.5 million low-income older workers would benefit from an expansion of the popular Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program. The report—released by our Retirement Equity Lab (ReLab)—finds without expanding the EITC, the program actually lowers wages among non-educated workers, especially those over 55.

RESEARCH | New research shows that even before the COVID-19 recession, 55.3 percent of workers age 55 and up in the bottom half of the income distribution were forced to leave the workforce and 32.4 percent in the next 40% of the income distribution – the middle class – were forced out of work in old age.

POLICY NOTE | Since March 2020, the size of the retired population in the U.S. expanded beyond its normal trend by an additional 1.7 million people.¹

WORKING PAPER | The popular EITC program is credited with encouraging employment and reducing poverty. But a SCEPA working paper suggests it may also reduce wages for low-education workers, including older workers who do not receive EITC benefits at the same rate as younger workers.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | After a partial recovery between May and August, older workers’ labor force participation rate fell continuously, reaching its lowest point of the recession in January.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Working longer is often proposed as the solution to the retirement crisis caused by older workers’ lack of retirement assets, but new research from SCEPA's ReLab shows this assumption doesn't match older workers' real experiences in the labor market.

RELAB REPORT | New research shows regardless of the data source, retirement plan participation is low and stagnating.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | COVID-19 and the resulting recession has made older workers — especially older people of color and low-income seniors — even more vulnerable to the systemic flaws of our failed retirement system.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Unemployment rates for workers 55 and older exceeded those of mid-career workers for the length of the pandemic — the first time since 1973 such an unemployment gap has persisted for six months or longer.