Making sense of health’s role in employment
September 18, 2018
Despite the growing number of studies and the increasing availability of detailed data, researchers haven’t developed a consensus on how health affects employment. This is partly explained by the wide variety in datasets (how they are collected, how they measure…
Read moreLaboring longer: Second careers, unretirement, and bridge jobs keep older Americans at work
August 22, 2018
Brooke Helppie-McFall and Amanda Sonnega’s paper, “Characteristics of Second-career Occupations: A Review and Synthesis,” untangles the differences between career employment, second careers or re-careering, encore careers, bridge employment, and unretirement. The researchers define “second career employment as employment after leaving…
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To have and to hold: Researchers investigate how same-sex marriage might affect Social Security spousal benefits
June 7, 2018
June 26 marks the third anniversary of nationwide, legal same-sex marriage. The estimated 4 percent of the U.S. population that is lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) can now benefit from the same legal status as married heterosexuals with all that…
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Tough timing: Study looks at veterans to pin down the long-term effects of entering the labor market during a recession
May 16, 2018
Previous research has found that young people entering the job market during a weak economy face lingering negative effects, earning less than workers who joined the labor market during, for example, a period of low unemployment. Such effects can last…
Read moreMRRC Director John Laitner recaps the spring workshop
May 1, 2018
The Michigan Retirement Research Center held its annual researcher workshop on March 23 and 24, 2018. As in recent years, we used space at the Ross School of Business, at the University of Michigan. This workshop has only plenary sessions…
Read morePayroll Taxes
April 13, 2018
Reprise for Tax Day: Labor supply and payroll taxes With policymakers proposing payroll tax reform with a view to promote the solvency of Social Security and Medicare, the research community has turned to examining whether changes to payroll taxes alone…
Read moreMRRC Director John Laitner previews 2017 key findings
March 7, 2018
The 2018 Winter Newsletter includes brief summaries of findings from a dozen new MRRC working papers. The projects illustrate two principal themes of our research effort: They make in-depth use of up-to-date data sources to test and quantify our understanding…
Read moreMore retirement planning with Mike and Mary
February 13, 2018
In our last exciting episode, Mike and Mary decided to keep working rather than take early retirement at age 62. They realized that they were behind in their retirement savings goals and likely to live longer than average given…
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Mike and Mary face retirement decisions galore
January 15, 2018
Mary and Mike, known as “M&M” to their friends, turn 62 in 2018 — the earliest age they can retire and claim their Social Security benefits. Mike has worked full-time for 40 years, although he experienced a year of unemployment…
Read moreThe Summer 2017 Newsletter is live
October 5, 2017
MRRC’s latest newsletter covers the August Retirement Research Consortium meeting in Washington, D.C., additional reading suggestions for meeting topics, and news of our authors’ MRRC-related activities. Read it online here or download the PDF version here.
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