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The Great Recession, Older Workers with Disabilities, and Implications for Retirement Security

Author

Listed:
  • Purvi Sevak

    (Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY)

  • Lucie Schmidt

    (Williams College)

  • Onur Altindag

    (Graduate Center, CUNY)

Abstract

Evidence suggests that older workers with disabilities have been hit particularly hard by the recent recession. The increased difficulty in finding a job faced by individuals with disabilities, combined with the longer spells of unemployment experienced by all workers in this recession, could mean that laid-off disabled workers in their pre-retirement years may never return to work. In this paper, we use data from the 2004-2010 waves of the Health and Retirement Study to examine how the great recession has affected workers with chronic health conditions that put them at greater risk of disability. Our results suggest that increases in job losses were 30% greater for those with greater underlying risk of disability than for the general HRS population, and decreases in consumption were 20% greater. These results have important implications for the well-being of disabled individuals nearing retirement.

Suggested Citation

  • Purvi Sevak & Lucie Schmidt & Onur Altindag, 2012. "The Great Recession, Older Workers with Disabilities, and Implications for Retirement Security," Working Papers wp277, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:mrr:papers:wp277
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Matthew D. Shapiro, 2010. "The Effects of the Financial Crisis on the Well-Being of Older Americans: Evidence from the Cognitive Economics Study," Working Papers wp228, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    3. David C. Stapleton & Richard V. Burkhauser (ed.), 2003. "The Decline in Employment of People with Disabilities: A Policy Puzzle," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number depd, December.
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    7. Michael D. Hurd & Susann Rohwedder, 2011. "The Effects of the Financial Crisis on Actual and Anticipated Consumption," Working Papers wp255, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    8. repec:mpr:mprres:6276 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Joan Costa-Font & Martin Karlsson & Henning Øien, 2015. "Informal Care and the Great Recession," CINCH Working Paper Series 1502, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health, revised Feb 2015.
    2. Schimmel Hyde Jody & Stapleton David C., 2017. "Using the Health and Retirement Study for Disability Policy Research: A Review," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-12, December.

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