Did Age Discrimination Protections Help Older Workers Weather the Great Recession?

This research project has three goals. The first is to assemble rich evidence on how the Great Recession affected labor market outcomes and the retirement-related behavior of older workers, and the channels by which the labor market effects occurred (dismissals, less hiring, etc.). The second, and central, goal is to test whether and how stronger age discrimination protections influenced the effects of the Great Recession – focusing on behavior related to the longer-term goals of lengthening work lives of older individuals. And the third goal is to provide new, independent evidence on the effects of stronger state age discrimination protections. This research will study how severe recessions impact older workers in ways that hasten retirement and shorten work lives, and whether stronger age discrimination protections can mitigate these adverse effects.