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 | 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.

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.

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

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

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.

RELAB REPORT | New research shows that even before the COVID-19 recession, only 36% of workers ages 25-64 were participating in a retirement plan at work, a five percentage point decrease from five years prior.

CHARTBOOK | ReLab's chartbook documenting retirement insecurity and the decline in older workers' bargaining power is a resource for workers, employers, media, policymakers, scholars, and the broader public to answer questions about the state of older working America and retirement income security.

RELAB WORKING PAPER | Contrary to the predictions of theoretical models, working longer does not significantly increase the share of older workers who are financially prepared for retirement.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | An additional 3.1 million older workers will fall into lifelong poverty in retirement. Overall, the 67 million older workers and their spouses in the U.S. will suffer a decrease of 7 percentage points in their retirement replacement rate.

RELAB ARTICLE | Policy makers need to strengthen older workers’ fallback positions.

RELAB ARTICLE | A retirement crisis looms as the labor market becomes less friendly to older workers when they are most numerous and least able to retire.

RELAB ARTICLE | A realistic look at the disempowered status of America’s older workers and their rocky path to a secure retirement.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Workers at all earnings levels would benefit from expanding Social Security. SCEPA proposes defaulting workers into “Catch-Up” contributions, where— starting at age 50— they would contribute an additional 3.1% of their salary.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Older workers are more likely than younger workers to think they can’t find a job comparable to their current one, a well-founded fear that persists at every earnings level and reflects the reality of an unfriendly labor market.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Social Security benefits are progressive and reduce the unequal distribution of retirement wealth generated by a broken employer-based retirement systemSocial Security benefits are progressive and reduce the unequal distribution of retirement wealth generated by a broken employer-based retirement system.

ARTICLE | Workers in low-wage households are more likely to experience economic shocks and to withdraw from their retirement accounts, exacerbating pre-existing inequalities in the retirement savings system.

RELAB REPORT | This report demonstrates how low and decreasing retirement plan coverage rates and the shift from traditional defined benefit pension plans to 401(k)-type plans are threatening New Yorkers’ financial readiness for retirement.

RELAB WORKING PAPER | Workers across the country face a retirement crisis. However, workers in Philadelphia are faring worse than average.