1. Comments on: Angrisani, Kapteyn, and Meier “Non-Monetary Job Characteristics and Employment Transitions at Older Ages” SSA Retirement Research Consortium Annual Meeting, August 7, 2015 David Weir University of Michigan

2. What is this paper trying to tell us?

3. Non-monetary job characteristics matter Or, work is not just about the money

4. What else? Which characteristics matter To which outcomes From which source of information

5. What data? HRS – Self-reported work status – Self-reported job characteristics – Many other covariates Matched at detailed occupation level to O*Net – A compilation of information on “average” job characteristics in the occupation

6. What methods? Multinomial logit for employment transitions OLS for intentions/expectations

7. Transition from FT Employment Policy goal is (or should be) to encourage people to stay in FT employment a little longer I will focus on just that outcome of transitions, not the details of where people go when they leave FT employment

8. How does their model do on other things we know about?

9. A: Pretty well Probably should make spline point at cohort- specific NRA and not at age 65 for all

10. Job characteristics Physical abilities decline with age, so more physically demanding jobs are likely to be associated with earlier retirement Cognitive abilities decline with age, and technological change (computers) increase demands over time Job stress should lead to earlier departure

11. Estimated Effects of Job Characteristics on Remaining in Full-Time Work

12. Self-report vs “objective” Self-report much better than objective on stress – Makes sense that an individual job situation and an individual’s subjective evaluation are more relevant than some average over many similar jobs Physical demands encourage departure – Self-report and objective are similar but objective “beats” subjective head to head Not much different on computer use – Positive effect of computers is perhaps surprising – Without controlling for physical demands, it may just be that using computers is a proxy for not being physically demanding

13. What about retirement intentions HRS asks about planned retirement age, probabilities of working FT at 62 and 65 These predict behavior reasonably well and respond to things

14. Average expected probability of working full-time past age 62, and age 65, for currently employed persons aged 55-60, 1992-2014

15. Impact of job characteristics not as clear or consistent Computer use raises SP of future work, self- report beats O*net in a close decision Physical demands lowers SP only from O*net Stress lowers SP only from HRS self-report

16. Next steps Estimate effects of job characteristics jointly to isolate unique effects of each Think about interactions – Does having a physically demanding job interact with physical limitations (walking, stooping, lifting, etc)? – Does having a cognitively demanding job interact with cognitive ability or decline? – Does job stress interact with depression?

17. Implications for encouraging longer work lives Policy implications not so clear – Not going to subsidize SS benefits or tax rates according to job characteristics – Not going to regulate employers to make jobs less physically demanding or give everyone computers – Might want to enforce or expand rules on accommodation of age-related disability in the workplace, IF there is an interaction between characteristics and physical limitations

18. Implications for encouraging longer work lives Might be some room for advising people how to avoid “premature” retirement Recognize mismatch of your aging trajectory and your current job’s demands Think about changing jobs earlier to one that will let you work longer (less physically demanding) Find ways to manage stress And let me know when you find it…

19. THANK YOU http://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu /