CHART K. THE MARGIN FOR SAVINGS, 1960-61

SOURCE: Based on BLS Report 237-8, analyzed in
"Lifetime Earnings and Income in Old Age," by
Juanita M. Kreps and Donald E. Pursell, U.S.
Joint Economic Committee Compendium, part II,
pages 261-264.

TECHNICAL NOTE: Data used are from the Bureau of
Labor Statistics study of Consumer Expenditures
and Income in 1960-61. For several occupations at
different ages of the family head, estimates are
available of the 1960-61 average annual money
income after taxes and of the 1960-61 average
annual expenditures for current consumption and
outlays for durables. This chart shows the annual
excess or deficit of average income over average
expenditures for each of the age cohorts in these
occupations.

Since the amount of this excess or deficit is
estimated from cross-sectional data, it does not

of course reveal the financial picture of a particular family as it progresses through worklife. Norsince it is based on averages-does it reveal the

excess or deficit for a particular family in that
occupation and age group. For example, the self-
employed under age 25 had an average money
income of $4,528 and an average expenditure of
$5,912. This is shown on the chart as a deficit of
$1,384, an amount that looks completely unreason-
able unless interpreted as the difference between
two averages based on all self-employed families
in the age group.
THE FINDINGS: Annual incomes exceed expenditures
of the self-employed and professional workers'
families for most of the age cohorts, leaving sources
of savings at practically all stages of worklife.
Semi-skilled workers also have a small margin for
saving. For clerical and skilled workers, expendi-
tures are barely balanced by income in total, with
the years of slight deficits roughly matched by years
of small savings. In the case of unskilled workers,
no balance of income with expenditure is achieved
except by the 55 to 64 age group. (See table 15 and
discussion, p. 35.)

ECONOMICS OF AGING: TOWARD A FULL

SHARE IN ABUNDANCE

TASK FORCE REPORT

INTRODUCTION

Every American-whether poor or rich, black or white, uneducated or college-trained-faces a common aging problem: How can he provide and plan for a retirement period of indeterminate length and uncertain needs? How can he allocate earnings during his working lifetime so that he not only meets current obligations for raising children and contributing to the support of aged parents but has something left over for his own old age?

The economic situation of the aged today speaks ill of the solutions to this problem in the past. But people now old were hampered in their efforts to prepare for their future by two world wars, a major depression and lifetime earnings which were generally low. The important question persists: What are the prospects for the future aged?

As a Nation, what do we intend for ourselves when aged and what for those who are already old? How are older people, now and in the future, to share in our economic abundance?

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