The income and resources of the elderly in 1978

The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently released two publications dealing with the economic situation of persons aged 55 and older in 1978. These reports--Income & Resources of the Aged, 1978 (a chartbook containing 17 charts and brief explanatory paragraphs) and Income of the Population 55 and Over, 1978 (a staff paper containing 43 tables and supporting text)--are the most recent in a series of analyses of the aged population begun by SSA 40 years ago. By means of selected findings, tabulations, tables, and charts, this article presents a sampling of the information available in the two publications. The reports reveal that the aged as a group are no longer disproportionately poor compared with the adult population as a whole, and that the 1978 income of most elderly units had kept pace with inflation since 1976, the next most recent survey year.