Look at Jobs Before Leaping on Older Retirement: Peter Orszag
This article is for subscribers only.
Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Has the ailing economy forced olderworkers to delay their retirement? The conventional wisdomcertainly suggests so. A recent front-page story in theWashington Post was headlined: “Ranks of older workers swelling:Data show employment surged among those 55 and over sincerecession.”
The reality, though, is more complicated. The financialcrisis caused more workers to want to delay retirement, but thelabor market limited their ability to do it. The net effect ofthese opposing supply and demand forces has, if anything, beento reduce the employment rate among older workers.