Racial and Gender Disparities in Early Retirement Decisions during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This project will examine whether there exist differences in early retirement decisions by race and/or gender during the COVID-19 pandemic. From a macroeconomics perspective, we will analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on potential structural changes in national trends in terms of race and gender disparities in labor supply among older adults using quarterly, county-level data, which can be decomposed by industry. The analysis will capture the geography and occupational characteristics of early retirees. Considering that early retirement could reduce Social Security payments by as much as 30% and early retirement before age 62 could lower lifetime earnings and thus result in lower Social Security benefits, understanding how COVID-19 may have been related to early retirement decisions by race or gender is directly related to SSA programs and old-age poverty.