Job Characteristics and Health: Differential Impact on Benefit Entitlement

Although social security has become an almost universal retirement program, workers still differ in their ability or inclination to supplement or replace earnings with retirement benefits. This differential utilization of retirement benefits reflects eligibility criteria, current labor force participation, characteristics of the current or last job, health, and age. Data on older white males from the National Longitudinal Survey are used to investigate the influence of these factors on the likelihood of benefit entitlement. Estimation of multinomial logit models indicates that self-employed workers and workers low in job tenure and net asset accumulation are more likely to combine benefit income and earnings in a given year's income. Also, workers aged 63 or older reporting health limitations are more likely to be dependent on social security for retirement income, rather than on a combination of public and private pensions.