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Women's worklives and future social security benefits
Social Security Bulletin
|April 1, 1976
Summary
More women will receive Social Security benefits independently in the future. However, these benefits are unlikely to increase relative to men's benefits due to stagnant earnings and longer careers required.
Area of Science:
- Social policy research
- Economics
- Gerontology
Background:
- Social Security benefits are crucial for retirement income.
- Historically, women have relied more on dependent or survivor benefits.
- Changes in women's labor force participation may affect future benefit adequacy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To project the future of women's Social Security benefits earned in their own right.
- To assess whether women's own earnings will be sufficient to replace dependent benefits.
- To analyze factors influencing the ratio of women's to men's benefits.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of historical earnings data for women and men.
- Estimation of younger women's future worklives based on current data and retired women's career patterns.
- Modeling of Social Security benefit computation periods.
Main Results:
- The ratio of women's earnings to men's earnings has remained relatively constant for at least 25 years.
- While younger women's labor-force participation is projected to increase, it may not fully compensate for longer benefit-computation periods.
- Increased benefit-earning activity is not expected to fully supplant the need for dependent and survivor benefits for women.
Conclusions:
- Future Social Security benefits earned by women in their own right are unlikely to surpass those of men proportionally.
- Women's increased work experience may not be enough to offset the impact of longer benefit-computation periods.
- Dependent and survivor benefits will likely remain essential components of Social Security for many women.