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 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 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 WORKING PAPER | Social Security “Catch-Up” contributions would allow workers to contribute an additional 3.1 percent of salary, starting at age 50, in return for enhanced benefits. The program would modestly reduce defacto elderly poverty and reduce the Social Security shortfall in the short run and be approximately actuarially neutral over 75 years.

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 | 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 POLICY NOTE | 2.9 million older workers left the labor force since March. These workers are at risk of having to retire involuntarily due to increased health risks coupled with decreased job prospects.

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 | 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.

RELAB WORKING PAPER | This study evaluates a Social Security "Catch-Up" contribution program, a proposal which would help mid-career workers narrow the gap between what they need in retirement and their projected retirement wealth. 

RELAB POLICY NOTE | The rates of elder poverty among widows and single women are higher than among couples and men.

RELAB POLICY NOTE | Older workers have not been able to save adequately for retirement.