Earnings of couples: a cohort analysis

This article looks at Social Security covered earnings of wives relative to their own husbands, using interview responses from the 1990 Survey of Income and Program Participation linked to Social Security Administration records of covered earnings. It examines earnings at ages 22-31, 22-41, and 22-51 for birth cohorts of wives born in the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's. More recent cohorts of wives had more years of earnings and higher levels of indexed earnings. As expected, differences in earnings of wives relative to their husbands declined among more recent cohorts. Nevertheless, if these earnings patterns continue through retirement age, the majority of wives born in the 1930's and 1940's and two-fifths of those born in the 1950's can expect to receive spouse benefits, and, if widowed, most can expect to receive widow benefits based on their husband's covered earnings. The article explores which characteristics are significantly associated with wives having low earnings relative to their husbands.