Social Security benefits of female retired workers and two-worker couples

This article makes available for the first time actual program data on benefits of couples in which both spouses receive benefits as retired workers. Traditional data have always classified two retired workers married to each other as separate "worker-only" beneficiaries. In this study of 1976 data, however, the benefits of husbands and wives were linked. It was found that average benefits for all couples--those in which the wife received a benefit as a retired worker and those in which she received a benefit only as a spouse--were about 8 percent higher than the amount usually reported from administrative records. Average benefits for couples in which the wife received a retired-worker benefit were about 18 percent higher than those for couples in which she received only a spouse's benefit. This article also examines the benefit levels and entitlement status of never-married, divorced, and widowed female retired workers according to their marital status. This information is likewise not routinely available from administrative records. Widows were about as likely as wives to be entitled only on the basis of their own earnings. Among all women, benefits were found to be highest for dually entitled widows and lowest for wives entitled only to a spouse's benefit.