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72 Soc. Sec. Bull. 1 (2012)
The Impact of Changes in Couples' Earnings on Married Women's Social Security Benefits

handle is hein.journals/ssbul72 and id is 5 raw text is: THE IMPACT OF CHANGES IN COUPLES' EARNINGS ON MARRIED WOMEN'S SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS by Barbara A. Butrica and Karen E. Smith* Women's labor force participation and earnings dramatically increased after World War I. Those changes have important implications for women's Social Security benefits. This article uses the Social Security Administra- tion's Modeling Income in the Near Term (version 6) to examine Social Security benefits for current andfuture beneficiary wives. The projections show that fewer wives in more recent birth cohorts will be eligible for auxil- iary benefits as spouses because their earnings are too high. If their husbands die, however, most wives will still be eligible for survivor benefits because, despite the increase in their earnings over time, they still typically have lower earnings than their husbands. Even so, the share of wives who would be ineligible for widow benefits is projected to double between cohorts. Introduction Women today are more likely than their mothers and grandmothers to work and to have higher earnings when they do work. Although women's labor force participation had been slowly but steadily rising since the late 1800s, the majority of women did not work and those who did work tended to be unmarried, less educated, and poor (Goldin 2006). From the 1950s through the 1990s, women's labor force participation soared as married women, older women, and those with more education and vocational training entered the labor market (Blau and Kahn 2007; Devereux 2004; Goldin 2006). Since then, the growth in women's labor supply has slowed dramatically, leav- ing some researchers to speculate whether women's participation in the labor force has reached its natural rate (Goldin 2006). Between 1950 and 2010, labor force participation rates for women aged 25-54 doubled, from 37 percent to 75 percent (Chart 1). In contrast, labor force participation rates for men in the same age group declined by 8 percent during this period, from 97 percent down to 89 percent. The trends in work are even more dramatic for persons aged 55-64, increasing by 122 percent for women and declining by 20 percent for men (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011). Married women in particular experienced the larg- est gains in labor force participation rates during the 1950-2010 period (Census Bureau 2011, Table 596). As a result, dual-earner couples are becoming more commonplace. Between 1980 and 2010, the propor- tion of married couples with both spouses in the labor force increased from 46 percent to 54 percent (Census Bureau 1981, Table 6; Census Bureau 2010, Table FGl). As women have increased their participa- tion in the labor market, their earnings have also increased. Median wage and salary income in 2010 dollars increased steadily for women in Social * Barbara Butrica and Karen Smith are senior research associates at the Urban Institute. This research was funded by the Social Security Administration (contract no. SSOO-06-60113 and order no. SSOO-10-31234). Note: Contents of this publication are not copyrighted; any items may be reprinted, but citation of the Social Security Bulletin as the source is requested. To view the Bulletin online, visit our website at http://ww.socialsecurity.govpolicy. The findings and conclusions presented in the Bulletin are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Social Security Administration or the Urban Institute, its trustees, orfunders. Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 72, No. 1, 2012 1

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