Related UI Researchers

Publications on Work/Income

This study looks at older adults retiring between 1996 and 2004 to see who engages in formal volunteering after retirement. The results, based on data from the Health and Retirement Survey, show that while most volunteers acquire the volunteer habit while still working, a significant share begins volunteer work after retirement. Among adults who retire, 45 percent engage in formal volunteer activities even though only 34 percent of these same adults volunteered while working. Since boomer cohorts following this group will be much larger, nonprofit organizations seem destined to benefit from a significant growth in the services of retirees.

Staying engaged in work and formal volunteer activities at older ages significantly benefits the well-being of the volunteers, the organizations that count on them, the people served by those organizations, and the economy. This study, based on data from the Health and Retirement Survey, shows that over 10 million healthy older adults with no caregiving responsibilities did not work or volunteer in 2004. About half of these able seniors are under age 75 and 9 out of 10 have prior work experience. Given this untapped potential, shortages of volunteers and workers should prompt employers and nonprofits to court this talent.

Low-wage workers in the United States are falling further and further behind their higher-earning counterparts. This brief examines a discussion paper for The Hamilton Project, proposing a new federal funding stream to identify, expand, and replicate the most successful state and local worker advancement initiatives. Under the proposed Worker Advancement Grants for Employment in States (WAGES ) program, the federal government would offer up to $5 billion annually in matching funds for increases in state, local, and private expenditures on worker advancement initiatives.

This paper proposes a new federal funding stream to identify, expand, and replicate the most successful state and local initiatives designed to spur the advancement of low-wage workers in the United States. In the Worker Advancement Grants for Employment in States (WAGES) program, the federal government would offer up to $5 billion annually in matching funds for increases in state, local, and private expenditures on worker advancement initiatives. To gain funding, states would have to develop local advancement "systems", partnerships would be developed between local training providers and financial supports for the working poor—including child care, transportation, and stipends for working students—would have to be funded. Initially, the WAGES program would require states to compete for federal grants; states would have an incentive to innovate and use information from other initiatives. The federal government would provide substantial technical assistance and oversight.

In recent years, the century-long trend toward lower labor force participation rates at older ages has reversed course, while improved health, jobs' reduced physical demands, relatively lower Social Security benefits, and a continued decline in traditional pension benefits will encourage more people to work longer. But will the right jobs for older workers be there?