In 1935, the U.S. Congress passed the Social Security Act, which provided financial assistance to people age 65 and older. The full retirement age was to be slowly raised to 67 by 2022 after the bill was passed in 1983. On the other hand, especially in the 1970s, it became more common for women to work than not.
This allows us to see how the measure of who works and for how long has changed through employment rates by age and period.
Employment increased year by year. People are still working at older ages, and there is a trend line that increases with age.
In earlier decades it was less common for women to work, so it’s useful to look at the proportions of men and women separately.
In their 60s, more men moved into retirement after the Social Security Act, but the trend moved in the opposite direction, as men worked longer than their predecessors in the same age group.
It is now much more common for women to be in the workforce, and the trend is increasing across all age groups.
Next, compare men and women from the same perspective.
After a steady increase in the number of working women from 1930 to 1990, trends for men and women from 2000 to the present have followed each other, and the gap appears to be leveling off.
The upward trend since 1990 will be the focus of attention in the future. People are living longer and need a source of income to support themselves. Add to this the uncertainty about the future availability of social security, and there may be challenges along the way.
This estimate is based on data from the U.S. Decennial Census from 1930 to 1990 and the American Community Survey from 2000 to 2022. I downloaded the microdata via IPUMS.
