Many analysts pinpoint the beginning of the recession in 2007 when the housing bubble burst. However, for many families it began long before that. The wealth of the average household started decreasing in the early part of this century, after staying largely flat for most middle-class Americans during the previous two decades. At the turn of the century, many analysts were warning that older workers were unprepared financially for retirement. What happened in 2007, made this problem much more acute and widespread.

In response, the Journal of Aging and Social Policy has pulled together experts to weigh in developing issues in retirement security. The goal of this special edition is to help clarify the impact that these economic shocks have had on retirees and near retirees.

The timing of these events could not be worse. The largest cohort of Americans, the baby boom generation, is nearing retirement; with all of it adding up to the greatest economic insecurity since the 1940s. Current polling suggests that the American public is at least as concerned about retirement security as they are health care and a growing number of Americans are favoring government intervention into the retirement system after nearly a decade of the largest expansion of public debt in the nation’s history.

Retirees and near retirees have taken a hit in the three most important areas of retirement: income, benefits, and savings. Just like other working adults, older workers face high unemployment rates, which are now at their highest since the Great Depression. Second, older workers and early retirees are now more vulnerable to health problems because they are less likely to have health insurance coverage than before. Employers cut back on coverage for retirees and there are no public insurance options for non-Medicare eligible individuals. Finally, the assets older workers held, in their home, retirement funds, etc., have severely diminished, especially after the housing market crash.

This special issue contains the work of a economic policy and retirement income security researchers. It covers unemployment trends of older workers, estimates of the lost wealth resulting from the housing market decline, trends in retirement savings accounts, trends in health insurance coverage for new retirees, among others.

Click http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=g921133823 to access the journal (subscription required)

Source: Weller, C. 2010. Introduction: Retirement security in the great recession. Journal of Aging and Social Policy 22(2): 95-98.