Chart 2-5 PERSONS BELOW AND NEAR POVERTY LEVEL BY THREE OLDER AGE GROUPS: 1987 Source: Current Population Survey, March, 1988. Data Strictly on the basis of annual cash income, today's generation of the oldest old has substantially fewer resources than the young elderly. Not only is the median income of persons aged 85 and older substantially lower than the median for younger groups, but there is a much greater concentration of the oldest old in the lowest income ranges for older families and unrelated individuals (chart 2-6). Source: Unpublished data from the Current Population Survey, There are good reasons to believe that income declines with age. Two factors clearly contribute to this decline: changes in marital status and changes in sources of income. These relationships are explored in greater detail in subsequent sections on Sex/Marital Status and Income and on Composition of Income. SEX, MARITAL STATUS, AND INCOME OLDER WOMEN HAVE LOWER MONEY INCOMES THAN OLDER MEN The low money incomes of older women are largely associated with a pattern of lifelong economic dependency on men and with status changes that occur in old age. In 1988, the median income of elderly women was $7,103-57 percent that of elderly men ($12,471) (table 2-4). As shown in table 2-3, in 1987 older women in every age group were substantially more likely to be poor than men of the same age. Overall, only 8.5 percent of the men 65 and older were poor compared to 14.9 percent of the women. The oldest women were the poorest-one in five women 85 years of age and older was poor in 1987. TABLE 2-3-PERCENT OF OLDER PERSONS BY RATIO OF INCOME TO POVERTY LEVEL BY AGE AND Source: Current Population Survey, March 1988. Data prepared by the Congressional Research Service. Older women of every marital status had low personal incomes. Although married women had the lowest median income ($5,485) due largely to continuing dependence on the earnings or pension income of a male spouse, they were also likely to benefit from the income of a spouse, and married men had the highest median income ($12,666) of any group (chart 2-7 and table 2-4). The economic status of women living alone was more precarious than that of married women due to lack of additional financial support. In 1987, widows and divorced women had the lowest and second-lowest median incomes of unmarried women, reflecting the loss of pension income and earnings often associated with the divorce or the death of a wage-earning spouse. The median income of widowed women ($7,432) was 78 percent of that of widowed men ($9,509), since men are more likely to retain pension or earned income after the death of a spouse. Chart 2-7 MEDIAN INCOME OF ELDERLY MALES AND Source: Current Population Survey, March, 1988. Data TABLE 2-4.-MEDIAN INCOME OF PERSONS AGE 65 AND OLDER BY MARITAL STATUS: 1987 Source: Current Population Survey, March 1988. Data prepared by the Congressional Research Service. Part of the difference between the income distributions of the oldest old and the youngest old appears to be attributable to the greater concentration of unrelated individuals in the oldest old population. The income distributions of different age groups of unrelated individuals are remarkably similar. Unrelated individuals are heavily concentrated in low income ranges with a sharply peaked distribution. The distribution is only slightly more peaked for older unrelated individuals than for younger ones, but the differences are minor (chart 2-8). AGE OF HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD Source: Unpublished data from the Current Population Survey, The peaks in the income distribution for elderly families occur at higher income categories than those for elderly unrelated individuals (chart 2-9). |