A recently convened Joint Economic Committee (JEC) Democrats hearing explored efforts to enhance the labor market and empower older workers.
JEC Chairman Don Beyer (D-VA) presided over the session examining how public policy can strengthen the labor market and address the challenges older workers face while promoting economic growth.
“Despite media coverage of high-income older workers choosing retirement to spend more time on hobbies and with their families, evidence shows this is not the reality for many older workers,” Beyer said. “As the United States continues its strong recovery, a primary task before us in Congress must be answering how we can build a stronger and more resilient economy, where the benefits from economic growth are broadly shared. Key to such an economy is a better labor market that ensures all workers, including older workers, have access to quality jobs that meet their needs and are free from discrimination.”
Older Americans contributed an estimated 40 percent of the national economic output pre-COVID-19 pandemic—despite making up 35 percent of the population.
“Equalizing healthy retirement times was an achievement Americans forgot to celebrate,” said Teresa Ghilarducci, Irene and Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of Economics and Policy Analysis at The New School for Social Research. “The practical ability and social right to retire is becoming more contingent on whether a person is disabled or has saved enough. No one else, it seems, is deserving. One of the signature achievements of the post-WWII period—the democratization of who has control over the pace and content of their time after a lifetime of work—is being reversed.”