Understanding and Addressing the Persistence of Poverty in Later Life

Abstract

Poverty among older adults in the United States is persistent and puzzling. Older adults in the United States are often referred to as the “deserving poor” because they are afforded a near-universal and more generous safety net than younger adults. Yet, the safety net falls short of eliminating poverty in later life. In this dissertation, I explore three mechanisms that may contribute to the persistence of poverty in later life despite the relatively well-developed safety net for older adults: exiting the labor force, age-based disability determination rules for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and the overall design of the SSI program. I take a mixed-methods approach across three papers, answering my questions with data from surveys, state agencies, and qualitative interviews. Across all studies, I define “later life” broadly, usually beginning at age 50, to capture differences in the safety net afforded to adults who reach retirement age. In Chapter 1, I construct longitudinal one-year panels of older workers from Current Population Survey data to assess how the relationship between exiting the labor force and entering poverty changed after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. I find that the probability of entering poverty is much higher for older workers who leave the labor force than those who remain. I also find that the likelihood of entering poverty among labor force leavers significantly decreased by 3 percentage points in the first year of the pandemic, but this decrease was consistent with pre-pandemic trends. In Chapter 2, I use administrative microdata from multiple agencies in Washington state to explore pathways to SSI take-up by age and how the Social Security Administration’s age-based disability regulations affect SSI take-up rates. I find significant and discontinuous increases in SSI take-up at age 55 and age 65, which suggests that the age threshold may be arbitrarily delaying otherwise-eligible people from receiving SSI benefits. Additionally, I find that more SSI recipients had experienced homelessness (40 percent) in the five years prior to SSI take-up than had been employed (34 percent). The findings from this research raise policy questions about the timeliness of SSI and the definitions of disability used to determine SSI eligibility. In Chapter 3, I use novel, nationally representative qualitative interview data from the American Voices Project to ask questions about how older SSI recipients describe the pathways that led them to receive SSI, the strategies and resources they use to get by financially given program restrictions, and how they make meaning of the role SSI plays in their financial lives. I find most older SSI recipients have a meaningful history of work, and that SSI’s low benefit levels and program rules keep recipients struggling financially.