Using Spanish Social Security records, we document the channels through which mothers fall onto a lower earnings track, such as shifting into part- time work, accumulating lower experience, or transitioning to lower-paying jobs, and are able to explain 71 percent of the unconditional individual fixed- effects motherhood wage gap. The earnings…

After a long decline, the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of older men in the United States leveled off in the 1980s, and began to increase in the late 1990s. We examine how changes in Social Security rules affected these trends. We attribute only a small portion of the decline from the 1960s-80s to the increasing generosity of Social…

In this paper the authors examine how the structures of earnings, Social Security, and pension benefits affect retirement behavior. They use an intertemporal model of labor supply, paying special attention to the institutional features of private pensions and Social Security benefits. (Author/SSH)

Work attachment of men aged 58-63 fell dramatically from 1969-89, with a sharp reduction at age 62 that is probably due to Social Security's early retirement provision. Nonpension income and the interaction between private pensions, personal assets, and Social Security may also play a large role. (SK)

A competing-risk model was used to test the influence of strenuous work on ability to delay retirement. Hazard rate estimates on data from 3,038 older males found that physical job requirements and health conditions affect the likelihood of retiring in a disabled state. Strenuous and sedentary jobs did not differ greatly. (SK)

Social Security earnings tests do not deter women from working, whereas men respond to current benefits and their labor force participation is inhibited by the tests. Increases in the delayed retirement benefit increased the labor supply of older women, but not older men. (SK)

Analysis of a longitudinal file of collectively bargained pension plans found dramatic increases in benefit levels; reductions in early, normal, and deferred retirement ages; and declines in age at which pension values peak. Findings indicate that employer-provided pensions can and will play an important role in inducing people to remain on their…

Social Security program has over the period become unsustainable from tax finance and imply reforms that would cut down on benefits of the elderly. The implications are that elderly may have to increase their post-retirement working, reduce consumption and opt for shared living rather than independent living conditions. The last of the three…