The Employment Effects of the Social Security Earnings Test

Alexander Gelber (), Damon Jones, Daniel Sacks () and Jae Song ()
Additional contact information
Alexander Gelber: Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; National Bureau of Economic Research
Daniel Sacks: Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Business Economics & Public Policy
Jae Song: U.S. Social Security Administration

No 2020-05, Working Papers from Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics

Abstract: We investigate the impact of the Social Security Annual Earnings Test (AET) on the employment decisions of older Americans. The AET reduces Social Security benefits by one dollar for every two dollars earned above the exempt amount. Using a differences-in-differences design, we find that the employment rate of those predicted to become subject to the AET decreases substantially relative to those not predicted to become subject to it. The point estimates suggest that the AET reduces the employment rate of Americans aged 63-64 by at least 1.2 percentage points.

JEL-codes: H55 J22 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 66 pages
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-ias, nep-lma and nep-pbe
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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https://repec.bfi.uchicago.edu/RePEc/pdfs/BFI_WP_202005.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Employment Effects of the Social Security Earnings Test (2022)
Working Paper: The Employment Effects of the Social Security Earnings Test (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bfi:wpaper:2020-05

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