The Changing Causes and Consequences of Not Working Before Age 62

Incomes and Hardship in Early Transitions to Retirement

“…These results can be compared to similar studies from the United States, such as those by Johnson and Merriman (2009), Butrica and Karamcheva (2012), and Milligan (2012). Health, education, and marital status were strong predictors for Americans of hitting difficulties before reaching the age of Social Security entitlement.…”

“…Transitions to retirement were analysed by Johnson and Mermin ( 2009 ), who looked at the suffering of hardship by those retiring early in the United States. Butrica and Karamcheva ( 2012 ) and Milligan ( 2012 ) both studied well-being and incomes in the years before reaching Social Security eligibility in the United States using the Health and Retirement Study. Engelhardt and Gruber ( 2004 ) examined the income levels and poverty rates experienced by those who retired before the age of public pension eligibility.…”

How is economic hardship avoided by those retiring before the Social Security entitlement age?

“…The focus in that paper is the effects of employment and health shocks on hardship in the pre-entitlement years. Butrica and Karamcheva (2012) look specifically at non-working adults in the age range of 51-61 and characterize their attributes, and how they change over time from 1992 to 2008, finding that some non-workers are struggling with low income and low wealth, while others appear to have accumulated wealth on which to draw.…”

“…The work in the present paper is distinguished from Butrica and Karamcheva (2012) in two main ways. First, I focus more closely on the age pattern of income receipt over these age ranges, emphasizing how these sources change with age.…”