Mortality and early retirement

This article examines and compares the survival rates of persons claiming retired-worker benefits at age 62 with those who did not. The study is based on a sample of Social Security insured workers who reached age 62 during the period 1962-72. The proportion of men dying in the initial years after age 62 was higher among those who claimed benefits at age 62 than among those who did not. The same pattern held for women but the difference was very small. To the extent that survival after age 62 can be taken as an indication of health status at age 62, these data suggest that the age-62 claimants were somewhat more likely than others to have had health problems. The difference in survival rates between the two groups, however, was not as great as the difference in the incidence of health problems reported in surveys. Past surveys have shown that men receiving early retirement benefits were twice as likely as other men to report health problems. According to this study, survival rates for men claiming benefits at age 62 were only 3-5 percentage points lower by age 68 than those for other insured men. Within any given age cohort, the difference between survival rates of age-62 claimants and other insured men widened over time. Survival rates improved across the age cohorts. Among the men, survival rates improved somewhat more for the age-62 claimants than for others.