Relative importance of various income sources of the aged, 1980

This article looks at the extent to which aged couples and nonmarried persons rely on earnings, retirement pensions, assets, and public assistance. The study notes the importance of these various sources to aged units with different levels of both total money income and retirement income, then examines changes in the relative importance of the different sources over time. The data indicate that 23 percent of all aged units had some income from earnings in 1980 and that 90 percent had income from Social Security. Asset income also was widely received. Twenty-two percent of the aged units had private pension income, and 12 percent had government-employee pensions. Public assistance was received by 10 percent of the aged units.