Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108AGING IN THE 21S T CENTURY Increasingly, married women are earning Social Security benefits through their own labor force participation . 54 Turning their attention to older households, Poterba et al. (2012) examine the evolution of assets in later retirement and the wealth holdings of Asset and Health Dynamics Study (AHEAD) respondents (born before 1924) toward the end of their lives. Median wealth is $157,363 (in 2016 dollars) for singles, $280,985 for widows, and $768,545 for married households. But 46% of this older population dies with less than $11,113 in assets and is much more likely to have been in poor health. The financial situation at the end of life also depends on how long we live. An Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) report shows that 20.6% of those who die at 85 or older have no non-housing assets, and 12.2% have no assets left. The percentages are higher for those who are single at the time of death with 9.1% also holding outstanding nonmortgage debt (EBRI 2015a). Social Security Replacement Rates Social Security plays a very important role in retirement readiness. For example, Hurd and Rohwedder (2012) estimate that a reduction in Social Security benefits of 30% would reduce the percentage adequately prepared by 7.8% for married individuals but as much as 10.7% among singles. In addition, Bender (2007) shows that in- come from pensions and Social Security accounts for the majority of retirement income. Besides replacing earnings for retired individuals, Social Security benefits are pro- gressive; that is, they replace a higher fraction of low earners’ pay than high earners’ pay. But because benefits are calculated at the level of the individual instead of the household, and because of the spousal benefit, much of the redistribution goes from higher-earning husbands to their lower-earning wives (Gustman and Steinmeier 2001). As women’s labor force participation increases, this is likely to change. Indeed, with more women working, the Social Security system is becoming more redistributive (Gustman et al. 2013). Figure 3-1 shows the labor force participa- tion rates and the Social Security average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) in 2016 dollars, multiplied by 12 to calculate an annual estimate. Men and women in the original HRS cohort are compared with the Early Baby Boomers. While the percentage of men in the paid labor force decreased between the two cohorts from 83 to 79%, women increased their labor force par- ticipation rate by seven percent, from 64 to 71%. Their earnings increased dramatically as well. Figure 3-2 shows the impact on redistribution, measured as the fraction of total Social Security benefits that is distributed among wealth deciles. The amount of redistribution increases from about 10% for the 1992 cohort to over 12% for the 2004 cohort. Redistribution at the household level increases from about 5% to nearly 7%. These trends are likely to continue as women’s labor force participation grows. FIGURE 3-1  Percent in the labor force and working full-time and Social Security earnings for men and women aged 51-56: 1992 and 2004 Source: Gustman et al. (2013). HRS cohort 1992 Early Boomers 2004 All respondents: Males: Females: 73% 83% 64% 75% 79% 71% 64% 77% 52% 66% 74% 58% $30,215 $45,949 $16,001 $42,429 $55,458 $26,896 All respondents: Males: Females: All respondents: Males: Females: Percent working full time Percent in the labor force Social Security earnings * Converted to 2016 dollars *