Trends in the ability to work among men and women in the older American population: 1997–2007

Since the passage of United States (US)’ Social Security Amendments in 1983, the age for full Social Security benefits has been increasing from age 65 to 67 depending on one’s year of birth. These increases introduce incremental savings in the long-term funding of the US public pension system, but they assume that American workers will be able to continue working past the age of 65. In this study, we examine self-reported work disability for men and women using the 1997 through 2007 National Health Interview Surveys. There are small but significant decreases in work disability and fairly significant increases in labor force activity among men and women in their 60s and for women in their 50s over the 11-year period, and relatively little difference between men’s and women’s trends. Changes in the educational composition of the population play a major explanatory role in the decrease of work disability. Without this compositional shift, work disability would have increased. Increased obesity over this period exerted an opposite effect; without this change, the decrease in work disability would have been greater.