Second Wind: Workers, Retirement, and Social Security

Abstract

In this report, Second Wind: Workers, Retirement, and Social Security, we hear from American workers about how they view retirement in our new economy, what they hope for -- and what they fear. Workers describe a vision that is not the work-free retirement for which their parents long. Rather, it is a work-filled retirement focused on fulfilling personal goals and contributing to the economy and to society. The survey finds that workers expect little support or help from government or employers in surmounting the barriers they face to their vision of a successful retirement. Workers express tepid support for corporate pension and retirement plans, and little confidence in Social Security and Medicare. In evaluating the Presidential candidates and their positions on Social Security and retirement, workers are remarkably unimpressed. Still, while Americans are willing to go it alone into old age, they hold out hope for change, for government and employers to step up their efforts to address the needs and desires of an aging workforce