Work Disability Affects the Spousal Early Retirement Decision

Serhii Ilchuk in a dissertation published by the Rand Corporation finds that …

The onset of a husband's work disability can lead to an earlier age of retirement not only for the husband himself but also, through joint retirement, for his wife.  This effect can be defined as a “joint early retirement” phenomenon.  Husbands whose wives become ill also tend to retire at earlier ages. The “joint early retirement” phenomenon is more pronounced among families where the spouse remaining in the labor force is a low earner.

The author also calculates cost-of-illness estimates for indirect costs (productivity lost through an early retirement) of different health conditions at the individual and societal levels, and estimates total family productivity lost due to the spouse's work disability.

Retirement Decisions of Women and Men in Response to Their Own and Spousal Health
Source: RAND Corporation