The Disappearing Defined Benefit Pension and Its Potential Impact on the Retirement Incomes of Boomers

A crosscutting team of Urban Institute experts in Social Security, labor markets, savings behavior, tax and budget policy, and micro-simulation modeling ponder the aging of American society. The aging of America raises many questions about what’s in store for future and current retirees and whether society can sustain current systems that support the retired population. Who will prosper? Who won’t? Many good things are happening too, like longer life and better health. Although much of the baby boom generation will be better off than those retiring today, many face uncertain prospects. Especially vulnerable are divorced women, single mothers, never-married men, high school dropouts, and lower-income African-Americans and Hispanics. Even Social Security—which tends to equalize the distribution of retirement income by paying low-income people more then they put in and wealthier contributors less—may not make them financially secure. Uncertainty about whether workers today are saving enough for retirement further complicates the outlook. New trends in employment, employer-sponsored pensions, and health insurance influence retirement decisions and financial security at older ages. And, the sheer number of reform proposals, such as personal retirement accounts to augment traditional Social Security or changes in the Medicare eligibility age, makes solid analyses imperative. Urban Institute researchers assess how current retirement policies, demographic trends, and private sector practices influence older Americans ’ security and decision-making. Numerous studies and reports provide objective