Trends in health and ability to work among the older working-age population

Because of recent changes in Social Security regulations that will soon begin to raise the age of eligibility for full retirement benefits, it is important to determine whether health and ability to work at older ages have improved in recent years.

Individual-level data from the National Health Interview Survey from 1982 through 1993 are used in this analysis. Trends in self-reported ability to work, presence of disease, and causes of actual work limitation are examined.

Men and women in their 60s, that is those in the older working ages and younger retirement ages, report significant improvement in their ability to work. The change in work ability is large enough so the percentage unable to work at age 67 in 1993 is lower than the percentage unable to work at age 65 in 1982. This improvement appears to have been similar for racial and ethnic groups and across educational subgroups of the population, although African Americans and those with lower educational attainment are less healthy to begin with. The improvement in health is due to the changing educational composition of the population, which is linked to better life-long health, different occupational circumstances, and better health behaviors. In addition, the improvement in work ability is explained by decline in the prevalence of cerebro/cardiovascular diseases and arthritis.

The level of observed improvement in work ability means that the legislated rise in age of full eligibility for Social Security benefits should be more than compensated for by the improved ability to work.