New bill would lower Social Security retirement age for some workers

Workers in physically demanding jobs should be able to collect full Social Security retirement benefits at age 60, a Michigan lawmaker says. Among the various proposals for bolstering Security is raising the retirement age at which Americans can claim full benefits. One lawmaker instead wants to lower it. Rep. Haley Stevens, a Michigan Democrat, on Thursday introduced the Blue Collar Social Security Fairness Act, which would reduce the retirement age for workers in construction, nursing, manufacturing and other physically demanding jobs to age 60. That would allow them to claim full Social Security benefits seven years earlier than they can under the law today. Currently, Americans born after 1960 may claim full Social Security benefits at age 67.

Workers may start collecting as soon as they turn 62, but with a 30% reduction in benefits (the benefits cut gradually decreases each year between ages 63 and 66). Stevens has said that lowering the retirement age for blue-collar workers is necessary to help those who may struggle working into their 60s, given that such jobs are often physically demanding. "Michiganders who work with their hands shouldn't be forced to wait until their bodies give out to retire," she said in a statement on Thursday in unveiling the legislation in Washington, D.C. In August, Stevens lost to Abdul El-Sayed in the Democratic