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Social Security retirement age increase takes effect

January 5, 2000

The retirement age for receiving full Social Security benefits increased in January for workers born after 1937, a change that federal employees enrolled in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) will need to consider as they near retirement.

The age for receiving full Social Security benefits will increase gradually from 65 to 67 over the next 22 years, under a law passed in 1983. The increase is based on when a retiree was born, so the Social Security retirement age for workers born in 1937 or earlier will remain 65. The first retirees to feel the change are workers born in 1938, whose Social Security retirement age is now 65 and 2 months.

All retirees, no matter when they were born, can draw reduced Social Security benefits beginning at age 62. The benefits are reduced by a small percentage for each month the retiree is below full retirement age. A person who was born in January 1938 and files for Social Security benefits this month, at age 62, will see their Social Security benefits reduced by 20.83 percent.

Employees under FERS will be affected by the change because they pay into Social Security and receive benefits under the program when they retire. Federal employees under the Civil Service Retirement System do not pay into Social Security, so they are not affected unless they worked outside the CSRS.

Social Security Retirement Reductions by Age

Year of Birth	Full Retirement Age	Age 62 Reduction Months	Monthly % Reduction	Total % Reduction
1937 or earlier	65	36	.555	20.00
1938	65 and 2 months	38	.548	20.83
1939	65 and 4 months	40	.541	21.67
1940	65 and 6 months	42	.535	22.50
1941	65 and 8 months	44	.530	23.33
1942	65 and 10 months	46	.525	24.17
1943--1954	66	48	.520	25.00
1955	66 and 2 months	50	.516	25.84
1956	66 and 4 months	52	.512	26.66
1957	66 and 6 months	54	.509	27.50
1958	66 and 8 months	56	.505	28.33
1959	66 and 10 months	58	.502	29.17
1960 and later	67	60	.500	30.00

For more information, see the Social Security Web site.

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