Aging and Labor Force Participation: A Review of Trends and Explanations

David Wise () and Robin L. Lumsdaine

No 3420, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The American population is aging rapidly. Persons 65 and over who now constitute about one-fifth of the population will constitute about two-fifths of the population by 2040. In addition, individuals are living longer. Yet the labor force participation of older Americans has fallen dramatically in recent years. This paper discusses this trend and the principal arguments put forth to explain it. The paper is in two parts. The first part reviews trends in labor force participation and associated trends in Social Security (SS) coverage, firm pension plan coverage, and other factors that are likely to be associated with the labor force participation trends, including demographics. The second part of the paper discusses the incentive effects of SS and retirement plans, with emphasis on firm pension plans.

Date: 1990-08
Note: AG
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published as Aging in the United States and Japan, ed. Yukio Noguchiand David Wise, eds., University of Chicago Press, 1994.
Published as Aging and Labor Force Participation: A Review of Trends and Explanations , Robin L. Lumsdaine, David A. Wise. in Aging in the United States and Japan: Economic Trends , Noguchi and Wise. 1994

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w3420.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Chapter: Aging and Labor Force Participation: A Review of Trends and Explanations (1994)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3420

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w3420

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().