Reliance on Social Security among Seniors by Heidi Hartmann, Jeff Hayes, and Robert Drago
N
ew research from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR)
finds that reliance on Social Security for retirement income has increased dramati- cally since 1999—particularly among men. Contributing factors include loss of assets during the most recent recession, as well as shifts toward higher risk retire- ment plans. “Social Security is more needed than
ever,” said Heidi Hartmann, President of IWPR and lead author of the report, So- cial Security Especially Vital to Women and People of Color, Men Increasingly Reliant. “It has served as the bedrock of retirement income for several generations of Americans. Now, as a result of the Great Recession and with the value of as- sets down— including homes, pension ac- cumulations, and savings—Social Secu-
rity serves as our Rock of Gibraltar. Social Security is the one income stream that is secure and does not fluctuate with the marketplace.” Between 1999 and 2009, the number
of men aged 65 and older relying on So- cial Security for at least 80 percent of their incomes increased by 48 percent (from 3.8 million to 5.7 million) to equal more than a third of all men aged 65 and older in 2009. The increase for comparable women was 26 percent (from 8.2 million to 10.3 million) to equal half of older women in 2009. Minorities tend to be more reliant on
Social Security than whites are, as they are considerably less likely than whites to have asset or pension income. Women benefit disproportionately from Social Se- curity because the program is designed to
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pay proportionally higher benefits to low- er earning workers and women tend to earn less than men. Women also benefit from the program’s family benefits. In 2009, Social Security helped more
than 14 million Americans aged 65 and older stay above the poverty line. Without access to Social Security, 58 percent of women and 48 percent of men above the age of 75 would be living below the pov- erty line. The study is based on IWPR analysis
of data from the 1978 to 2010 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements collected jointly by the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research .
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