Promoting research on retirement, disability, and Social Security policy

The December Zoom workshop expanded on the MRDRC’s November UAS workshop, emphasizing the types of research topics that can be developed using the data set. Slides are also available.

The event discussed UAS data useful in exploring broad topics such as

• disability, available data includes status, knowledge of rules, knowledge channels, application history;
• physical, mental, and cognitive health, data includes self-reported cognition, cognitive test scores, ADLs and IADLs, medical care use, depression and stress;
• retirement and Social Security, data includes benefit receipt, program knowledge, financial preparedness for retirement; and
• labor force participation, data includes employment tracking, self-employment and gigging, small business ownership, work from home, and job-related benefits.

The Zoom workshop was recorded and offers an overview of the University of Southern California’s UAS, a next-generation, probability-based population survey research platform often used in MRDRC-funded research.

UAS Director Arie Kapetyn and USC economist Marco Angrisani presented (see outline below).

MRDRC’s UAS workshop content complements The New York Retirement and Disability Research Center’s UAS workshop focused on intersectionality research.

Topics:

• Introduction to the UAS: A brief introduction to the UAS as an innovative data collection platform to promote research on the health and retirement outcomes over the life cycle, This will include information about how to access UAS data and collect data within the UAS.
• Core Data Collection and Structure: Content of longitudinal surveys in the UAS and frequency of data collection. The presentation will also provide details about survey response rates and sample retention.
• Zooming in on Employment, Retirement, Health, and Disability: Overview of available data on labor market outcomes, retirement, financial preparedness for retirement, health, and disability. The discussion will emphasize the availability of novel data about work-from-home arrangements, job satisfaction, and workers’ well-being. It will also describe information about “subjective” (as reported by survey respondents) and “objective” (via linkage to the O*NET) job demands and tasks.
• Passive Data Collection in the UAS: This presentation will describe the UAS effort to passively collect data on digital health metrics through fitness tracker devices, pollution levels through portable air quality monitors, transaction data through a financial aggregator, and credit reports from Experian. It will also provide information about administrative data linkages and contextual data.

The 2024 Retirement and Disability Research Consortium Meeting took place August 7-9, 2024, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

If you missed the event, slides, conference papers, and video for the three days are posted on Boston College's Center for Retirement Research.