Song Jae G, Manchester Joyce
Division of Economic Research, Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, Office ofPolicy, Social Security Administration, USA.
Soc Secur Bull. 2007;67(1):1-15.
This article describes responses to removing the retirement earnings test in 2000 for persons at the full retirement age or older. We examine annual earnings and retirement benefit claims from Social Security administrative data that cover the 4 years before and after the change. Three findings emerge from the study. First, the effect on earnings of removing the earnings test is uneven across people with different earnings levels. We find little effect on earnings at lower levels, but the effect on earnings in the mid to upper levels (50th to 80th percentiles) is large and significant. Such a finding indicates that the removal most affects people with earnings levels above the earnings test threshold. The largest increases in earnings are found at the 70th percentile for persons who have attained ages 65-69 and at the 60th percentile for those turning 65. Second, there is no clear evidence of the effect of the test's removal on the overall rate of labor force participation. A small rise in work participation among individuals aged 65-69 may be at least partially attributable to the trend already under way. Increases in work participation that do occur are mostly attributable to retaining older workers rather than inducing older workers back into the workforce. The effect appears to increase over time, suggesting that the removal has long-lasting effects on work participation. Third, the removal of the earnings test accelerated applications for benefits by 2 to 5 percentage points among individuals aged 65-69 and by 3 to 7 percentage points among those reaching age 65.
本文描述了2000年取消对达到或超过正常退休年龄者的退休收入测试后的反应。我们研究了社会保障管理数据中的年度收入和退休福利申请情况，这些数据涵盖了政策变化前后的4年。该研究得出了三个结果。首先，取消收入测试对不同收入水平人群的收入影响并不均衡。我们发现对低收入人群的收入影响不大，但对中高收入水平（第50至80百分位）人群的收入影响很大且显著。这一结果表明，取消收入测试对收入水平高于收入测试门槛的人群影响最大。收入增长幅度最大的是65 - 69岁人群中的第70百分位者以及刚满65岁人群中的第60百分位者。其次，没有明确证据表明取消该测试对劳动力总体参与率有影响。65 - 69岁人群中工作参与率的小幅上升可能至少部分归因于已有的趋势。实际出现的工作参与率上升大多归因于留住老年工人，而非促使老年工人重返劳动力市场。这种影响似乎会随着时间推移而增加，表明取消收入测试对工作参与率有长期影响。第三，取消收入测试使65 - 69岁人群的福利申请加速了2至5个百分点，使刚满65岁人群的福利申请加速了3至7个百分点。
