The Pandemic Retirement Surge Increased Retirement Inequality

Owen Davis and Siavash Radpour

No 2021-03, SCEPA publication series. from Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School

Abstract: An examination of the status of older workers in June of 2021 reveals three highlights: 1.) Retirement Boom: At least 1.7 million more older workers than expected retired due to the pandemic recession. (2.) Retirement Inequality: At earlier ages, vulnerable older workers retired sooner, while more privileged workers delayed retirement. The share of retired workers among adults aged 55-64 rose 5% for those without a college education but fell 4% for those with a college degree.(3.) Racial Inequality: Black workers without a college degree experienced the highest increase in the share who are retired before age 65. This rate rose 1.5 percentage points, from 16.4% to 17.9%, between 2019 and 2021.

Keywords: older workers; recession; COVID-19; coronavirus; downward mobility; poverty; unemployment; wages; involuntary retirement; retirement; 401k; Medicare; Older Workers Bureau; racial disparities; disparities; inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J30 J38 J58 J60 J88 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-hea and nep-mac
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epa:cepapb:2021-03

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