You may be forced to retire sooner than you think

Half of current retirees retired before they were eligible for Social Security retirement benefits — that is before age 62. Many of these retirees did not retire because they wanted to, but because they were forced to due to poor health, the need to care for a family member, or the inability to find work. These findings in the Federal Reserve’s Report on the Economic Well-Being of Households in 2019 surprised me, so I spent some time trying to learn more. Here is what I found.

While workers of all ages can experience layoffs, it can be significantly harder for workers over 50 years old to recover from a layoff. Ageism appears to be a serious issue in the American labor market. The inability to find suitable work pushes many workers over 50 into retirement sooner than they had planned. We need to make sure that our policymakers strengthen and enforce age discrimination laws to protect workers over 50.

It is difficult to predict your own future health status, much less the health status of your loved ones. A parent may no longer be able to care for themselves or a child may develop a debilitating disease or suffer from a crippling accident. These surprises can push an individual into early retirement so that the person can provide care for a loved one. It is more common for women to retire to take on these caregiving responsibilities. The United States should provide a caregiving credit in calculating Social Security benefits, similar to that found in other Western countries, to mitigate the negative impact caregiving can have on the caregiver’s retirement security.

I should not have been surprised that many people are forced into retirement because of poor health given what I know about the U.S. healthcare system. Poor health, from a national perspective, is in part a consequence of having a weak healthcare system. Because the United States lacks universal health care — making it an outlier among rich countries — many Americans let minor medical problems develop into major ones. The Economic Well-Being of Households reports that a quarter of adults went without health care due to an inability to pay. We need to move toward a healthcare system that provides affordable, consistent, and high-quality care for all.

Workers in physically demanding jobs, in fields such as farming, construction, nursing, and manufacturing, are also more likely to retire early. These jobs can lead to chronic pain and disabilities that force workers to end their careers. People may not expect to be disabled by their job, but it happens fairly often. People in physically demanding jobs can end up retiring sooner than they expect. Social Security should be adjusted to allow workers who have had long careers in physically demanding jobs obtain benefits earlier.

To protect your retirement security — whenever you start your retirement — you need a strong — and expanded — Social Security system and a strong and expanded healthcare system. Republicans are constantly trying to undermine Social Security, although for many retirees and people with disabilities, it is their primary source of income. With a few modifications, we can not only shore up Social Security’s finances, we can have it better serve individuals who are forced to retire early.

Although our weak healthcare system is likely a factor in Americans’ high rate of early retirement, Republicans have tried over 70 times to kill the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) which would leave millions more Americans without health insurance. We need elected officials who will work to build up our healthcare system, not tear it down.

Use your voice and your vote to elect politicians who will strengthen America’s retirement system. You may need it sooner than you think.