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The Council of Economic Advisers on Work and Retirement Among the Elderly
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
population and development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.836
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1728-4457
pISSN - 0098-7921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1728-4457.1999.00189.x
Subject(s) - life expectancy , population , dominance (genetics) , work (physics) , population ageing , longevity , government (linguistics) , retirement age , demographic economics , political science , economic growth , gerontology , pension , economics , demography , sociology , medicine , finance , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , engineering , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
The 1999 Annual Report of the US council of Economic Advisers (a document of some 450 pages, formally an Annex to the Economic Report of the President Transmitted to the Congress February 1999 , Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office) addresses some of the questions an aging population raises for the American economy. (Aspects of this topic were also discussed in earlier Council reports; see the Documents section of the March 1996 and June 1997 issues of PDR .) Chapter 4 of the 1999 report is titled “Work, Retirement, and the Economic Well‐Being of the Elderly.” The excerpts from this chapter reproduced below provide a summary of the expected future changes in the age distribution of the US population—a result of improving life expectancy and low fertility—and the concomitant marked changes that will characterize the racial and ethnic composition of the elderly. The report notes recent declines in the rate of disability among persons aged 65 and older and discusses changing patterns of retirement and their causes. Despite long‐term improvements in health and longevity, the retirement age has fallen rather than risen during the twentieth century. The report suggests, however, that this trend has now run its course, as influenced by the increasing dominance of physically less demanding service‐sector jobs, more flexible work schedules (including availability of part‐time employment), and changes in persion arrangements.