Cohort trends in working life expectancies at age 50 in the United States: a register-based study using social security administration data

Christian Dudel and Mikko Myrskylä

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Objectives: Little is known about the length of working life, even though it is a key indicator for policy-makers. In this paper, we study how the length of working life at age 50 has developed in the United States from a cohort perspective. Methods: We use a large longitudinal sample of U.S. Social Security register data that covers close to 1.7 million individuals of the cohorts born from 1920 to 1965. For all of these cohorts, we study the employment trajectories and working life expectancy (WLE) at age 50 by gender and nativity (native-born/foreign-born). For the cohorts with employment trajectories that are only incompletely observed, we borrow information from older cohorts to predict their WLE. Results: The length of working life has been increasing for the native-born males and females, and the younger cohorts worked longer than the older cohorts. However, WLE might soon peak, and then stall. The gap in WLE between the nativeborn and the foreign-born has increased over time, although latter group might be able to catch up in the coming years. Discussion: Our findings show that studying employment from a cohort perspective reveals crucial information about patterns of working life. The future development of the length of working life should be a major concern for policy-makers.

Keywords: cohort study; continuous working history sample; foreign-born population; working life expectancy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 11 pages
Date: 2020-09-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age and nep-dem
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 1, September, 2020, 75(7), pp. 1504 - 1514. ISSN: 1079-5014

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