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Linking Benefits To Marital Status: Race And Social Security In The Us

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  • Madonna Harrington Meyer
  • Douglas Wolf
  • Christine Himes

Abstract

In the US, marital status is more important than work history in determining economic security for many older women. Two-thirds of older women in the US receive spouse or widow Social Security benefits. These benefits generally require recipients to be currently married or to have had a ten-year marriage. Declining marriage rates, coupled with shorter marriages, dramatically change the distributional impact of these benefits on each cohort as they become eligible for Social Security. This paper uses June 1985, 1990, and 1995 CPS supplemental data to trace the decline in marital rates for women from five birth cohorts. We find that the proportion of persons who will be eligible as spouses or widows is decreasing modestly for whites and Hispanics, but dramatically for African Americans. This growing race gap in marital rates suggests that older black women will be particularly unlikely to qualify for these benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Madonna Harrington Meyer & Douglas Wolf & Christine Himes, 2005. "Linking Benefits To Marital Status: Race And Social Security In The Us," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 145-162.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:11:y:2005:i:2:p:145-162
    DOI: 10.1080/13545700500115977
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Lilach Lurie & Haya Stier, 2022. "Marital Status and Gender Inequality in Household Income Among Older Adults in Israel: Changes Over time," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 801-820, January.

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