Chris Chaplain

Office of the Chief Actuary

Social Security Administration

Retirement Age Proposals

NASI 2017 Summer Academy for Interns

August 10, 2017
What is the Social Security 

Retirement Age Anyway? 

 At full retirement age, also called “normal retirement 

age” or NRA, the full basic Social Security benefit is 

paid (Primary Insurance Amount or PIA):

 For individuals age 62 in 2016, the NRA is 66

– Can file for retirement benefits as early as 62 with a 25% 

reduction of the PIA – age 62 is called the earliest eligibility 

age or EEA

– Can file for retirement benefits at age 70 or later with a 32% 

benefit increase, 8% per year of delay in filing for benefits

– Those benefit reductions/increases are permanent, with 

annual cost of living adjustments

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Brief History of NRA and EEA

 1935 – NRA established at 65 and all got the same 

basic benefit regardless of age at retirement – no EEA 

at this time

 1956 – Women could get benefits as early as 62 with a 

reduction of 6.67% of the PIA per year of early 

retirement

 1961 – Same action for men as in 1956 for women

 1972 – First allowed for increases in PIA for retirement 

after NRA (was up to 72 at the time, later reduced to 70)

 1983 – Increased NRA to 66 by 2005 and to 67 by 2022 

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Retirement Age Proposals

 Some NRA provisions attempt to keep the ratio of the time 

in retirement (life expectancy) to time in the work force 

(NRA – 20) constant

– We estimate this would result in increasing the NRA 1 

month every 2 years after it reaches age 67

 Other provisions raise NRA faster than this

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Retirement Age Proposals (examples)

 For later group exercise:

– “Gradually raise the full retirement age from 67 to 

68.” Specifically, Increase the NRA 2 months per 

year from 67 to 68, reaching 68 for age 62/2028. 

Reduces 17% of financing gap

– “Gradually raise the full retirement age from 67 to 

70.” Specifically, increase both the NRA and the 

EEA by about 3 months every 4 years until the 

NRA and EEA reach 70 and 65 respectively. 

Reduces 28% of financing gap. 

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Retirement Age Proposals (examples)

 From recent/notable comprehensive solvency proposals:

– Rep. Johnson (Dec 8, 2016) = increase NRA 3 months per 

year from 2023 to 2030, reaching 69 for age 62/2030. 

Reduces 32% of financing gap.

– Rep. Ribble (July 13, 2016) = increase NRA 2 months per 

year from 2023 to 2034, reaching 69 for age 62/2034. Then 

increase 1 month/2 years thereafter. Reduces 40% of 

financing gap.

– Fiscal Commission (December 1, 2010) = after 2022, 

increase EEA and NRA about 1 month / 2 years. Exempt or 

limit these increases for those with career average earnings 

up to 400% of the poverty level. Reduces 15% of financing 

gap. 6
Implications of Raising NRA/EEA

 If no change in time of retirement, benefits are 

reduced

 Would have to delay retirement by some amount of 

time to get the same benefit

 Raises in EEA alone are close to neutral in terms of 

solvency effects on Social Security

 Raising the NRA would extend payments made by 

Disability Insurance Trust Fund, and would lead to 

additional filing of (unreduced) disability benefits

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Implications (continued)

 Workers are living longer, healthier lives

– Workers are able to remain longer in the workforce

– Workers will need more time to save for a longer, 

generally healthier retirement

 Possible difficulties

– Will workers want to remain longer in the labor force?

– Will more jobs be available for older workers?

– Will older workers in strenuous jobs be adversely 

affected – not quite meeting disability status per Social 

Security standards

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Resources

 https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/solvency/provisions/retireage.html = 

Individual provisions to increase the EEA and/or the 

NRA 

 https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/solvency/index.html = 

Comprehensive solvency memoranda from Office of 

the Chief Actuary

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