Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) recently released Living Below the Line: Economic Insecurity and Older Americans, a series of briefs that demonstrate the vulnerability of older adults who live above the poverty line but whose incomes are insufficient to pay for basic needs. Each report uses the Elder Economic Security Standard ™ Index (Elder Index) as a basis. The Elder Index sums local housing, health care, food, transportation, and household item costs to demonstrate the incomes older adults need to meet their basic needs.
The first brief compares the incomes of a state’s retired individuals to the Elder Index. Through this comparison, WOW calculates the percentage of seniors with annual incomes that fall short of what’s needed to be economically secure. The report finds that these rates range from 57 percent in Vermont to 34 percent in Wyoming.
The second and third briefs address trends related to gender and race. According to WOW’s analysis, economic insecurity among working-age women carries over into retirement, creating a stark gender gap. This gap is even more pronounced for women of color. In general, while economic insecurity rates are high for all older adults, persons of color are affected much more significantly.