Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Disabling Conditions in the Years Prior to Retirement

(Population and Migration Issues)

The years preceding retirement are a time where health conditions and functional limitations begin more frequently or worsen. Those who are able to change job requirements in the face of changing health and functioning may be able to stay with their employer and remain in the labor force. Those who are unable to receive such accommodations from their employer or change jobs to something more suitable, may exit the labor force earlier than anticipated. Some of those individuals face the decision of whether to apply for federal disability benefits from the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. The papers in this session present new information about the interplay between health, functioning, job demands, and the decision to exist the labor force and seek SSDI benefits. The study by Maestas et al. capitalizes on data from the American Life Panel to understand differences in job demands between older and younger workers, to understand factors that might be associated with staying in the labor force. Yin’s work considers how reporting pain and work disabilities factors in the decision to exit the labor force and seek disability benefits, with a particular focus on considering how this decision affects men and women differently. The remaining two papers are similar in that they consider how those who received SSDI prior to reaching to retirement fare in terms of post-retirement financial well-being. Though similar in focus, these papers approach their analysis using different data and methods. The paper by Rutledge et al. uses the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked to administrative earnings data to carefully consider how program rules in SSDI and Social Security retirement (SSR) affect post-retirement income and the resulting effect of that on the replacement rate of SSR income in retirement. The paper by Wu and Schimmel Hyde also uses the HRS, but links to SSA administrative benefits information to develop each respondent’s benefit claiming history and prior to retirement along with the SSDI and SSR benefit amount information in the administrative files, and considering a broader range of post-retirement well-being measures including poverty and financial wealth.