Haley Stevens introduced the Haley Stevens social security bill on Thursday in Washington, D.C., setting out a plan to let some workers in physically demanding jobs claim full Social Security benefits at age 60. The Blue Collar Social Security Fairness Act would apply to workers in construction, nursing, manufacturing and roofing-type jobs if they meet the bill’s test.
The proposal would lower the current full retirement age of 67 for people born after 1960. Under current law, workers can start collecting Social Security at 62, but their benefits are reduced by 30%; that cut shrinks gradually each year between 63 and 66.
Blue Collar Social Security Fairness Act
Stevens said the change is needed for people who may not be able to keep working into their 60s. “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 Washington, D.C.
The bill would use a points system. Workers would get one point for each year worked between ages 35 and 44, and the Social Security Administration commissioner would compile a list of qualifying professions. The list would be updated every three years.
Social Security age 60 test
To qualify for retirement at 60, workers would need at least 15 points or 20 years in certain jobs such as manufacturing or roofing. The bill describes a qualifying job as one that imposes substantial physical demands that may reasonably be expected to diminish a worker’s ability to keep doing that occupation, or another similar physically demanding job, at an advanced age.
That structure gives the proposal a narrow gate. A worker would need enough years in the covered jobs, enough age-linked points, and a profession that ends up on the Social Security Administration list before full benefits at 60 become available.
Social Security funding pressure
The bill lands while Social Security funding pressure remains in view. The most recent Social Security trustees report projected that a key trust fund would become insolvent by the end of 2032, and the trustees said that could trigger a cut of more than 20% in recipients’ benefits. The average retired worker received $2,071 a month in January.
That leaves a simple question for workers who might qualify: how many will actually meet the 15-point or 20-year threshold once the Social Security Administration finishes the professions list? Until then, the bill’s practical reach rests on how many jobs it places inside that definition.
