Why Does Old-Age Poverty Persist?

Barbara A. Butrica and Richard W. Johnson, Urban Institute and Christopher Tamborini, U.S. Social Security Administration

Using administrative earnings and benefits records linked to multiple waves of the Current Population Survey, this project will examine how employment and earnings histories, benefit claiming age, and immigration shape Social Security retirement benefits and poverty outcomes and how those relationships vary with gender and race/ethnicity. This topic is important to SSA because 5.8 million adults ages 65+ currently live in poverty, and the share of the older population experiencing poverty has not fallen over the past two decades. This pattern is noteworthy given that the poverty line adjusts only for increases in prices, while Social Security benefits keep pace with rising wages.