Report
Why New England’s Labor Force Participation Has Been Recovering So Slowly since the COVID-19 Pandemic
Burke, Mary A.; Nelson, Nathaniel R. (2025-01-01)
This report investigates a variety of factors that may explain why New England experienced a participation recovery gap from 2019 through 2023 and discusses the resulting policy implications.
New England Public Policy Center Research Report , Paper 25-1

Working Paper
"The Great Retirement Boom": The Pandemic-Era Surge in Retirements and Implications for Future Labor Force Participation
Smith, Christopher L.; Montes, Joshua (2022-11-30)
As of October 2022, the retired share of the U.S. population was nearly 1-½ percentage points above its pre-pandemic level (after adjusting for updated population controls to the Current Population Survey), accounting for nearly all of the shortfall in the labor force participation rate. In this paper, we analyze the pandemic-era rise in retirements using a model that accounts for pre-pandemic trends in retirement, the cyclicality of retirement, and other factors. We show that: more than half of the increase in the retired share are “excess retirements†that would likely not ...
Finance and Economics Discussion Series , Paper 2022-081

Excess Retirements Continue despite Ebbing COVID-19 Pandemic
Faria-e-Castro, Miguel; Jordan-Wood, Samuel (2023-06-22)
COVID-19 spurred a wave of retirements. Though the effects of the pandemic have subsided, the number of retirees remains well above what would have been expected from socioeconomic trends.
On the Economy

Researching COVID-19’s Impact on the 'Great Retirement'
Faria-e-Castro, Miguel; Ricketts, Lowell R. (2023-04-03)
Senior Economist Miguel Faria e Castro and Data Scientist Lowell Ricketts discuss their research on the relationship between the pandemic and the wave of retirements in recent years.
On the Economy