Women’s Pension Finances Found Lagging Behind Men’s

Retirement income for many older women is falling significantly behind benefits received by older men, according to a study and congressional testimony.

By the year 2000, more than 62% of American women are expected to be in the labor force. The percentage is expected to rise throughout the 21st Century.

But as the number of women workers rises, so does poverty among retirees, especially among retired women living alone, experts say.

A study by the Older Women’s League contends that the problem lies not with Social Security income but with private pensions.

In 1970, according to the study, women received 70% of the Social Security benefits received by men. By last year this had increased to 73%.

But the report says that while private pension income paid to women in 1974 was 73% of that paid to men, by 1987 that had fallen to 54%.

The study said that nearly 75% of older Americans living below the poverty line are women. Of all older women, 41% live in near-poverty, it said.

Other findings:

* Almost four times more widows live in poverty than do wives of the same age.

* Half the widows who are now poor did not live in poverty before their husbands died.

* In 1988, almost half the women 65 or older were widows.

Convening a recent hearing of the House subcommittee on retirement income, Chairman William J. Hughes (D-N.J.) said: “Although our mothers, wives and daughters are spending more time in the labor force, poverty among older women is projected to continue to grow well into the next century.”

Louise Crooks, immediate past president of the American Assn. of Retired Persons, contended that women are at risk “because they outlive their spouses, are more likely to live alone and are more likely to have little or no private pension income and a low-wage history.”

Because women have tended to enter and leave the work force more often than men, as a group they receive lower Social Security and private pension benefits than men, other witnesses said.

Crooks said that this is largely due to the responsibilities of caring for children, most often assumed by women.

Lou Glasse, president of the Older Woman’s League, said the Social Security system is best at accommodating the needs of “families that consist of a lifelong breadwinner, a lifelong homemaker and children.”

“Less than 10% of American families fit that definition today, and even fewer will fit this mold in the future,” she said.

But other witnesses said Social Security at least provides an income floor for older women and that the real problem lies with their eligibility for private pensions.

Many women receive no pensions because they tend to work in the service industry or for smaller firms that do not provide them.