publication
How did COVID-19 affect the labor force participation of older workers in the first year of the pandemic?

This paper studies older workers’ transitions out of employment and into retirement during the first year of the pandemic. While the likelihood of retiring increased by 1 percentage point, there was no immediate retirement boom for full-time workers under 70.

February 2023 · Owen F. Davis, Laura D. Quinby, Matthew S. Rutledge, Gal Wettstein

    report
Dissecting the Pandemic Retirement Surge

This report explores the drivers of the pandemic retirement surge. Contrary to other contributions that posited a major role for diminished flows out of retirement, we find that increased transitions from the labor force to retirement drove the trend.

December 2021 · Owen F. Davis, Siavash Radpour

    working paper
Employment and retirement among older workers during the Covid-19 pandemic

This paper explores patterns in employment and retirement among older workers during the pandemic, finding that the characteristics that best predicted excess retirement transitions were employment in high-contact occupations and part-time work schedules.

December 2021 · Owen F. Davis

    report
The Pandemic Retirement Surge Increased Retirement Inequality

The pandemic led to a significant shift in retirement and employment outcomes for older workers. This report quantifies the scale of the Covid-19 retirement boom and explores disparities by race and education in pandemic labor market outcomes.

June 2021 · Owen F. Davis, Bridget Fisher, Teresa Ghilarducci, and "Siavash Radpour"

    report
A First in Nearly 50 Years, Older Workers Face Higher Unemployment Than Mid-Career Workers

This report examines labor market outcomes for older workers in comparison to younger and mid-career workers in the first six months of the pandemic. It document a historically unusual unemployment gap between older workers and their mid-career counterparts.

October 2020 · Owen F. Davis, Bridget Fisher, Teresa Ghilarducci, Siavash Radpour