Noah Kouchekinia, David Neumark, Tim Bruckner
  • June 10, 2026

  • UCI economists Noah Arman Kouchekinia and David Neumark, and Tim A. Bruckner, public health, explain in this piece for The Centre for Economic Policy Research

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“Dementia affects an estimated 6 million Americans, and is the leading cause of neurological disability and the third leading cause of overall disability among older adults (over 65 years). Employment near retirement age appears to reduce the risk of cognitive decline, which is a key precursor to dementia (Coe et al. 2012, Bonsang and Perelman 2012, Celidoni et al. 2017, Mazzonna and Peracchi 2017). The potential link between work and forestalling cognitive decline and dementia suggests there may be large social benefits from higher employment at older ages. 

However, we know less about whether employment at mid-life, when cognitive decline already starts, delays cognitive decline. Whereas severe cognitive impairment (and dementia onset) typically occurs after age 65, pathologically meaningful cognitive decline is detectable as early as age 40 (Salthouse 2009, Singh-Manoux et al. 2012, Yang et al. 2024), and over 32% of adult men aged 51-64 years in the US are not working. The goal of our new research (Kouchekinia et al. 2026) is to assess the causal impact of employment on cognitive decline to employment before the retirement window.”

Continue reading, courtesy of The Centre for Economic Policy Research.

 

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