The number of workers applying for Social Security benefits in the 12 months ending in September fell 5 percent from the same period a year earlier, the biggest drop in almost two decades, according to the Social Security Administration.
During the same period, retirements among workers ages 65 to 69 were up 5 percent, according to a Washington Post analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. (It’s not clear how many of those who retired early delayed Social Security benefits, as BLS doesn’t track such benefits in its monthly surveys.)…
Economists, researchers and government officials attribute the trend to generous federal stimulus and unemployment insurance payments that enabled retirees to make ends meet in the short term; soaring stock and home prices that fattened retirement accounts; and pandemic-related restrictions at Social Security field offices nationwide that forced seniors to apply online.
“Usually in economic downturns, we see increased reliance on Social Security programs, and thought that’s what was going to be coming with the pandemic,” said Lauren Hersch Nicholas, an economist at the University of Colorado at Denver who has studied the phenomenon. “The claiming numbers just don’t show that at all.”
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