The New York Times lays out some of the key issues and questions facing older workers navigating the last part of their careers in the pandemic, noting:

Many older workers, generally those over 40, say they will need to work longer because of the economic crisis. For example, 37 percent of baby boomers and 39 percent of respondents from Generation X said they had delayed retirement or were considering doing so, according to a recent survey by TD Ameritrade.

But that will be easier said than done: Between 2014 and 2016, just over half of workers who retired between ages 55 and 64 did so involuntarily because of ill health, family responsibilities, layoffs and business closings, according to research by the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research.

This is exactly why protecting and expanding Social Security is critical for everyone – because you never know what the future holds.

Many people think of Social Security as a retirement savings program — but that’s not the case. It is actually a nationwide insurance policy. Social Security exists to insure workers and their families against old age, premature death, and disability.

Legislation now in Congress would expand Social Security and ensure that all benefits can be paid in full and on time into the 22nd century: the Social Security 2100 Act.

Led by Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), the chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee, the bill has 210 co-sponsors – nearly 90 percent of House Democrats – and an identical bill has been introduced in the Senate.

But to get this legislation across the line your elected leaders need to hear from you:

• Contact Speaker Nancy Pelosi to urge her to hold a vote on this important legislation. (sample text here)
• Urge your state’s senators to sign on to the Senate legislation. (sample text here)