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Abstract
Women face a greater risk of poverty than men as they get older, but this risk varies considerably by race and ethnicity. Using data from the Census Bureau's 2002–2005 March Current Population Surveys, this article examines racial and ethnic differences in women's retirement security, with special attention given to differences in their marital status and living arrangements in old age. Findings show that African American and Hispanic women are more likely than white or Asian American women to be unmarried at ages 65 and older. Older minority women are also much more likely than older white women to live in extended family households, regardless of marital status. The poverty rate is lower for those living in extended family households than those living alone, indicating a potential safety net provided by other family members; yet, the degree of economic support received from extended family arrangements tends to vary by race and ethnicity. The examination of personal sources of retirement income—Social Security, pensions, and assets—indicates that an above poverty household income does not necessarily reflect a personal level of financial security. The level of women's retirement security coming from all income sources varies by race and ethnicity, marital status, and living arrangements.
Notes
1. The growth of white women's employment since the 1980s was notable especially among married women with children. Prior research indicates that the constraining effect of marriage on women's work has declined substantially, especially among white women (Cohen and Bianchi Citation1999; Corcoran Citation1999). African American women's employment did not vary by marital status prior to 1970; but by 1991, due to the declining rate of work among single mothers, married women were more likely to work than single mothers (Corcoran Citation1999). Single mothers' employment then rose sharply in the late 1990s under the influence of welfare reform and the expansion of tax credits for the working poor (Danziger et al. Citation2001; Jones‐DeWeever, Peterson, and Song Citation2003).
2. It is important to note that the level of education among Asian American or Hispanic populations is, to a large extent, affected by the educational attainment of immigrants coming to the United States. There also exists great variation within each racial/ethnic group. For instance, among Hispanic women, those of Cuban and South American origin are more likely to have higher levels of education than others, while those of Mexican origin, particularly those foreign‐born are less likely (Saenz Citation2005). Similarly, among Asian Americans, Vietnamese Americans—both native‐ and foreign‐born—have lower levels of education compared with other Asian American groups (Xie and Goyette Citation2005).
3. The ratio between African American and white households in their mean or median wealth cited in many studies varies depending on the survey used and the age group of survey respondents. Blau and Graham's study (Citation1990) used the 1976 National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) of young men and the 1978 NLS of young women which included respondents in the age ranges of 24 to 34. Oliver and Shapiro's study (Citation2006) is based on the 1987 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, with households as the unit of analysis. Wolff (Citation2001a) used data from the Survey of Consumer Finances for the years 1983, 1989, 1992, 1995, and 1998; Wolff (Citation2001b) used the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its supplements on family wealth which were carried out in 1984, 1989, and 1994. Among the surveys used in these studies, the Survey of Consumer Finance is noted for its oversampling of those at the upper tail of the wealth distribution to obtain precise estimates of wealth. The ratio measuring the racial gap in wealth also varies depending on whether mean wealth or median wealth is compared.
4. Unmarried includes never married, divorced, and widowed.
5. Given the continuing flow of Asian and Hispanic immigrants to the United States, the younger Asian and Hispanic populations aged 25–64, compared with their older counterparts, include the higher percentages of those who came to the United States less than 10 years ago or between 10 and 20 years ago. For these younger populations, 40 percent of Hispanics and 20 percent of Asian Americans are native‐born.
6. There is a very small percentage of older women who live in households with non‐relatives only; they are included in the category of living with family members. Some extended family households also include non‐family members. Older women in institutional settings such as nursing homes are not included in the CPS data used in this study.
7. While differences in women's total fertility by race/ethnicity may influence different living arrangements, a study by Himes, Hogan, and Eggebeen (Citation1996) shows that the number of children has little effect on the elderly living arrangements among minorities. The presence or absence of children, however, matters: those with children are more likely to be in extended family arrangements.
8. Data from the Annual Economic and Social Supplement to the Current Population Survey provide separate variables that measure total family income and total personal income. The analysis in this article uses these variables provided in the CPS data. Total personal income represents the sum of various income components reported by individuals as their own personal income. For married couples, some components of joint income, such as those from savings accounts or investments, may be included as part of personal income.
9. Pensions here refer to general retirement income (other than Social Security) that includes income from company or union pension plans, government pensions, regular payments from IRAs or Keogh accounts, and regular payments from annuities or paid insurance policies. Survivor's pensions and veteran's pensions are also included.
10. While earnings from employment in old age are increasingly regarded as the fourth important source of income, this study focuses only on Social Security, pensions, and assets. As for earnings, there is a rather small proportion of older women (about 13 percent overall) who are working and receiving income at ages 65 and older. And there is a relatively small difference across race/ethnicity in the proportion of older women employed.
11. The majority of unmarried women overall are widows, but the percentage of widows is higher for white and Asian American women (about 80 percent each) than for African American (70 percent) and Hispanic women (68 percent). Unmarried African American and Hispanic women include about 20–24 percent of women who are divorced, compared with 13–15 percent of white and Asian American women who are divorced.