Social Security can be saved by raising the earliest retirement age for benefits to 65 from 62, a Cornell University social security expert told a Congressional subcommittee this week.

That would not be such a hardship, said Richard V. Burkhauser, chair of the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell, because today's baby boomers, who are tomorrow's retirees, are healthier, wealthier and will live longer than previous generations.

At the same time, he said, it's imperative to protect the minority of the older working-age population with poor health and little wealth who cannot continue working. This, he proposed, should be achieved by lowering the age for receipt of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for retirees to 62 from 65. "This would offer a guaranteed minimum income for the small minority of older workers who cannot work to age 65 and who do not have the financial means to support themselves," he said.

Burkhauser testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 10. He is also the Sarah Gibson Blanding Professor of Policy Analysis at Cornell.

"Studies show that the vast majority of Americans who take early Social Security are healthy, could have continued to work and could afford to live without Social Security benefits for several more years," Burkhauser said.

By lowering the age for old age SSI to 62 from 65, however, widows, people with disabilities

who do not qualify for Disability Supplemental Security Income and other vulnerable

people would be better protected from poverty, he said.

He also told the subcommittee that if workers with disabilities were better integrated into the workforce, specific changes to Social Security policy would not be necessary. He recommended, for example, tax-supported subsidies to employers to accommodate employees with disabilities and subsidies for medical insurance for people with disabilities.

Burkhauser is an expert on social policy and is credited with playing a significant role in policy-making on pensions and Social Security benefits. Many of his statements were based on research he has published in the Journal of Human Resources, The Gerontologist and a book he co-edited on disability, Disability, Work and Cash Benefits.