Posted on 09/24/2026 4:54:54 AM PDT by JSM_Liberty
Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., on Wednesday introduced a new bill that would lower Social Security’s full retirement age for workers in physically demanding jobs.
The bill, called the Blue Collar Social Security Fairness Act, would make it so eligible individuals would be able to claim full Social Security retirement benefits starting at age 60.
Currently, the earliest Social Security retirement age is 62, though beneficiaries receive reduced monthly checks for starting that soon. By waiting until full retirement age — that’s 67 for individuals born in 1960 or later — they may receive 100% of the benefits they’ve earned. For each year an individual delays beyond full retirement age up to age 70, they stand to get an 8% benefit boost.
Yet for blue-collar workers, staying longer in physically demanding jobs in order to reach those age milestones may be difficult, according to Stevens’ proposal.
“Michiganders who work with their hands shouldn’t be forced to wait until their bodies give out to retire,” Stevens said in a statement. “If we want to honor the dignity of work in this country, we need to lower the retirement age for physical laborers.”
The lower eligibility age would apply to workers in jobs like construction, roofing, nursing and manufacturing. Under the terms of the bill, the Social Security Administration would be tasked with coming up with a full list of qualifying physically demanding occupations, which would be updated every three years.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines physically demanding jobs as those that require certain levels and durations of physical exertion, such as climbing, heavy lifting, pushing, pulling, standing or walking. The agency has reported that 39.1% of the civilian workforce work in physically demanding jobs.
Under the terms of the bill, workers would not need to work their entire careers in physically demanding jobs to earn credit towards early claiming. A weighted points system would give beneficiaries credit for the years they worked in qualifying jobs. Individuals in physically demanding jobs would earn 0.5 points for each year worked from the ages of 18 to 34; one point for each year worked from the ages of 35 to 44; 1.5 points for years worked from the ages of 45 to 54; and two points for years worked above the age of 55 until an individual passes away.
To qualify for early retirement benefits at age 60, workers would need to have earned a total of 15 points or have 20 total years of physically demanding work throughout their careers.
The proposal comes as Social Security faces imminent depletion dates for the trust funds it relies on to help pay benefits. To prevent across-the-board benefit cuts, lawmakers may opt to shore up the program by increasing taxes, cutting benefits or a combination of both. Advocates have called for targeted benefit increases for vulnerable beneficiaries, particularly low-income Americans.
Individuals who have physically demanding jobs are at risk of exiting the workforce earlier than planned, which can interfere with their ability to have a secure retirement, according to 2022 research from the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at The New School.
To be sure, it remains to be seen whether the proposal will gain traction in Congress.
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Democrats trying to pull more money out of Social Security
Is this for real? Another “loophole” for people to cheat the system. If you are too stupid to get disability, then you deserve to work longer.
lower the retirement age...yea, that will help secure the SSA’s finances....</sarc>
Stress will kill you faster than driving a forklift. Ask an air traffic controller or nurse.
Administrative NIGHTMARE and FRAUD MAGNET.
Like everything else. Get rid of the fraud, then we’ll see what the books really look like. And it’s really more on the disability benefits than the retirement benefits.
“climbing”
My neighbor Nick had two trees cut down.
It cost $5,200.
It fits into their plan one more step closer to socialism.
Remember, if you put the word “fairness” in the title of anything, that makes it a Good Thing.
Heck yeah. The system is already actuarily bankrupt, so let’s just play panderbear and give billions away to buy votes.
Full retirement at 60 for some selected groups of workers will quickly become full retirement at 60 for everyone and early retirement at 57.
The (non-existent) Social Security “Trust Fund” is scheduled to run out in 2032. Under current law, that would trigger an across the board 25-30 percent benefit cut.
This legislation, if enacted, would probably push Social Security into bankruptcy just in time for the 2028 election. Which may be the purpose.
The last serious attempt to deal with Social Security when we still had time to do something constructive about it was during Bush 43’s term. He campaigned on it. The democrats, of course, automatically filibustered any action, Bush was overtaken by 9-11 and the war, and reform never got any traction on the Hill.
Bankruptcy reorganization is now baked into the cake.
I don’t like this idea of drawing SS earlier. The program already has problems & this would seem to add to them. But, then...what Dem programs don’t usually add to the problem? I drew as soon as I could get full SS, which at the time was 65 plus 2 months, but actually retired at 75, when the old body just didn’t feel like it was up to the task much longer. It worked out OK & of course in that first 10 yr. period that I was drawing, I was also still paying into the system. Drawing earlier than what it is now would seem to add to the problems that SS has already.
They typically work for employers that don’t offer pension plans and can put the maximum into an IRA each and every year for 40 years.
I was only able to put money into an IRA for one year, because I was unemployed at the time.
While we're at it just make it when you can retire whenever you want with full "benefits" even if you haven't ever worked a day in your life.
If they live to be in the 80’s, they will be on SS longer than they worked. My father-in-law retired at 55 from the guvernment. He is now 86. We have paid for his pension for 31 years even though he only worked around 30 years. That is unsustainable.
“The agency has reported that 39.1% of the civilian workforce work in physically demanding jobs.”
Boss, how about offering a 401-K plan?
like many things this sounds reasonable at first, but then you remember that social security is going bust, and this wont help.
And every year after, new jobs will be added to said list.
Or, SS will have to add layer up layer of analysts who will determine whether a job is a physically demanding job. And then another appeals system will have to be established. And all of those people need supervisors, managers, workspaces, and support staff.
Yeah…this is a great idea. There are already appeals processes for disability. Let’s use what we have first. Then do new stuff.
I had a childhood friend who was a tree cutter. He was killed on the job. It’s a very dangerous business.
I had a cousin who had a business replacing gas tanks at gas stations. He was in a hole and the tank collapsed the wall, killing him.
There are plenty of examples of physically demanding jobs. There are a lot of very dangerous jobs.
Usually those jobs come with higher levels of workman’s comp and company provided insurance.
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