A new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the number of United States college professors over the age of 70 should continue to increase in the coming years.
According to the report, after the 1994 elimination of mandatory retirement, retirement rates of professors ages 70 and 71 years old fell by at least 50 percent.
In 1984, under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Congress abolished forced retirement laws. But an amendment to the bill allowed colleges and universities to keep mandatory retirement requirement for professors over the age of 70. The amendment expired in 1994.
The report, "Did the Elimination of Mandatory Retirement Affect Faculty Retirement Flows?" compares records of 16,000 older faculty members at 104 colleges and universities.
The study found the elimination had no effect on professors who retired before the age of 70, but those who stayed on after the age of 70 were less likely to retire, said Orley Ashenfelter, co-author of the study and a professor of economics at Princeton University.
While the study did not focus on specific effects of the lower retirement rates, Ashenfelter said "the effect can't be very big, because the number of faculty over the age of 70 is small at most institutions."
He also said the number of older faculty members varies from institution to institution, with no obvious reason behind the difference in numbers.
At the University last fall, there were 29 full-time and 14 part-time professors ages 70 or over. The numbers for this year have not yet been compiled, said George Stovall, director of Institutional Assessments and Studies.
Ashenfelter said many schools, including the University, have direct contribution pensions. These pensions allow the professors to invest their contributions for retirement as they see fit. When they retire, they are given the money they have made in investments.
This may be one reason why older professors are staying longer at colleges and universities, Ashenfelter said.
There are positive and negative aspects of having no mandatory retirement ages at the University.
"You can keep people that everyone wants to keep," said Patricia Werhane, a Darden professor and a former faculty senate chairwoman. But, "we're not opening enough places for young people to come in."
According to Ashenfelter, the results of the study raise several potentially interesting questions.
Because the U.S. is one of the only countries that does not have a mandatory retirement age, it may study why other countries, such as Canada or European nations still do, Ashenfelter said.
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