America is at a crossroads in its approach to work and retirement.
Many policymakers think it's logical--almost inevitable--that Americans will delay retirement and spend more years in the paid labor force. But it's an assumption that doesn't match the reality faced by a large and growing proportion of Americans. Though in many ways today's middle-aged adults are less financially prepared for retirement than today's retirees, precarious working conditions, family caregiving responsibilities, poor health, and age discrimination will make it difficult or impossible for many to work longer.
Overtime offers a current, revelatory corrective to our understanding of the future of the American workforce and aging. Experts across economics, sociology, psychology, political science, and epidemiology examine how increasing economic and social inequalities, coupled with changes across generations or birth cohorts, call for a rethinking of the working-longer policy framework. The contributors examine trends and inequalities in employment, health, family dynamics, and politics, helping to shed light on the challenges faced by traditionally marginalized social groups while showing that our society's responses to an aging workforce affect us all. Together, they argue that policies affecting work must be considered alongside policies affecting retirement and provide a path forward to achieve better retirement security for all Americans.
Drawing on the deep and varied expertise of its contributors, Overtime critically questions the conventional thinking of policy makers in this space to chart a more likely course for older Americans in the twenty-first century--one less reductive than simply ""working longer.""
"Acknowledgments Contributors Introduction: Is Working Longer in Jeopardy? Lisa Berkman and Beth C. Truesdale Part I. Who Has a Job? Labor Trends from Commuting Zones to Countries Chapter 1: When I'm 54: Working Longer Starts Younger than We Think Beth C. Truesdale, Lisa Berkman, and Alexandra Mitukiewicz Chapter 2: The Geography of Retirement Courtney C. Coile Chapter 3: The European Context: Declining Health but Rising Labor Force Participation among the Middle-Aged Axel Börsch-Supan, Irene Ferrari, Giacomo Pasini and Luca Salerno Chapter 4: Work and Retirement in the U.S. after the COVID-19 Pandemic Shock Richard B. Freeman Part II. What's the Fit? Workers and Their Abilities, Motivations, and Expectations Chapter 5: The Link between Health and Working Longer: Disparities in Work Capacity Ben Berger, Italo Lopez-Garcia, Nicole Maestas, and Kathleen Mullen Chapter 6: The Psychology of Working Longer Margaret E. Beier and Meghan K. Davenport Chapter 7: Forecasting Employment of the Older Population Michael D. Hurd and Susann Rohwedder Part III. Lived Experience: The Role of Occupations, Employers, and Families Chapter 8: Dying with Your Boots On: The Realities of Working Longer in Low-Wage Work Mary Gatta and Jessica Horning Chapter 9: Ad Hoc, Limited, and Reactive: How Firms Respond to an Aging Workforce Peter Berg and Matthew Piszczek Chapter 10: How Caregiving for Parents Reduces Women's Employment: Patterns Across Sociodemographic Groups Sean Fahle and Kathleen McGarry Part IV. Politics and Policy: Where Population Aging Meets Rising Inequality Chapter 11: Working Longer in an Age of Rising Economic Inequality Gary Burtless Chapter 12: How Does Social Security Reform Indecision Affect Younger Cohorts? John B. Shoven, Sita Nataraj Slavov, and John G. Watson Chapter 13: The Biased Politics of ""Working Longer"" Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson Conclusion: What Is the Way Forward? Lisa Berkman, Beth C. Truesdale, and Alexandra Mitukiewicz"
Lisa F. Berkman is Director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies (HCPDS) and the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is an internationally recognized social epidemiologist whose work focuses extensively on social and policy influences on population health and health equity. Her research orients toward understanding inequalities in health related to working conditions, social and economic policies, and social networks and isolation. Beth Truesdale is a research fellow at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and a visiting scientist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Dr. Truesdale is a sociologist whose research focuses on inequalities in work and aging, the future of retirement, and the effects of social institutions and public policies on Americans' well-being.
Reviews for Overtime: America's Aging Workforce and the Future of Working Longer
Americans work longer and have the shortest retirements among rich nations. How long can we postpone raising pensions by falsely hoping Americans can work even longer? Drs. Truesdale and Berkman bring together experts with an answer in this well-researched book. -- Teresa Ghilarducci, PhD, Director, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis Berkman and Truesdale brilliantly reframe an essential policy question: Should we promote working longer? Convening experts across the social sciences, this volume illuminates growing inequalities and pushes us to consider the current realities for younger workers in assessing this question. Overtime provides an innovative, compelling, and critical perspective on modern work. -- Erin Kelly, PhD, Professor, MIT Sloan, and Co-Director, MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research As global aging advances, efforts by countries to preserve social insurance funds by delaying retirement age are challenged by increasing disability in less privileged workers. This authoritative and timely volume de-mythologizes work and retirement for older persons and provides evidence-based strategies for better jobs and financial security later in life. A must read for policy makers and employers. -- John W. Rowe, MD, Julius Richmond Professor of Health Policy and Aging, Columbia University
