Stevens introduces retirement bill

Representative Haley Stevens, a Democrat from Michigan, introduced the Blue Collar Social Security Fairness Act on Wednesday. The bill would lower Social Security's full retirement age for workers in physically demanding jobs.

Current retirement age rules

Social Security's full retirement age is currently sixty-seven for individuals born in nineteen sixty or later. The earliest claiming age is sixty-two, but beneficiaries receive reduced monthly checks. Waiting until seventy adds an eight percent benefit boost per year.

Age sixty eligibility proposed

The bill would make eligible individuals able to claim full Social Security retirement benefits starting at age sixty. Stevens argues that blue-collar workers should not be forced to wait until their bodies give out to retire.

“Michiganders who work with their hands shouldn't be forced to wait until their bodies give out to retire.”

Qualifying jobs and occupations

The lower eligibility age would apply to workers in construction, roofing, nursing and manufacturing. The Social Security Administration would create a full list of qualifying physically demanding occupations, updated every three years.

Points system for eligibility

Workers would not need entire careers in demanding jobs. A weighted points system awards zero point five points per year aged eighteen to thirty-four; one point aged thirty-five to forty-four; one point five aged forty-five to fifty-four; two points above fifty-five.

Qualification thresholds

To qualify for early retirement benefits at age sixty, workers need either fifteen total points or twenty total years of physically demanding work throughout their careers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports thirty-nine point one percent of the civilian workforce works in physically demanding jobs.

Bill faces uncertain path

The proposal comes as Social Security trust funds face imminent depletion. It remains to be seen whether the bill will gain traction in Congress. Research from the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis shows physically demanding job workers risk exiting the workforce earlier than planned.