Working Paper: NBER ID: w7243
Authors: Phillip B. Levine; Olivia S. Mitchell; John W. Phillips
Abstract: Women enter retirement having spent fewer years in market work, earned less over their lifetimes, and worked in different jobs than men of the same age. This study examines whether these differences in work-life experiences help explain why many women end up with lower levels of retirement income in old age. We use the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which provides information on labor market histories along with the ability to predict retirement income from employer pensions, social security benefits, and investment returns. We document differences in anticipated retirement income by sex that exist largely between nonmarried men and women. Multivariate models show that 85 percent of this retirement income gap can be attributed to differences in lifetime labor market earnings, years worked, and occupational segregation by sex. Our results suggest that as women's work-life experiences become more congruent with men's over time, the gap in retirement income between men and women may shrink.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: J26; J16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| lower levels of retirement income (J26) | fewer years in market work (J29) |
| lower levels of retirement income (J26) | lower lifetime earnings (J17) |
| lower levels of retirement income (J26) | occupational segregation (J79) |
| fewer years in market work + lower lifetime earnings + occupational segregation (J29) | retirement income gap (J26) |
| women's worklife experiences align with men's (J29) | gap in retirement income may shrink (J26) |
| anticipated retirement income (J26) | lower for nonmarried women (J12) |
| median wealth for nonmarried women (D14) | about one-quarter lower than nonmarried men (J12) |