White Collar Workers Live Longer Than Blue Collar Workers?

The New York Times reports today that the House of Representatives is considering measures that would allow assumptions to be made for purposes of pension calculations that blue collar workers do not live as long as white collar workers. The New York Times says that the assumptions are based upon a study performed by a committee of the Society of Actuaries which studied and analyzed 11 million “life years” and concluded that blue collar workers and the poorly paid both tend to die young. The findings are being used to support a bill pending in the House which would allow businesses with union workers to reduce their company pension obligations. The United Auto Workers are supporting the provision. (Other articles on the subject by CBSNews.com,FindLaw, and Reuters at Forbes.com.)