Black, Latino Seniors Twice As Likely To Be In Poverty In Retirement

Black and Latino seniors in the U.S. are facing a tougher time in retirement: Elder poverty rates are twice as high among these groups compared to the U.S. population as a whole, according to a new study by the University of California, Berkeley.

Some 19.4 percent of black and 19.0 percent of Latino seniors have incomes below the federal poverty line, compared to 9.4 percent for the senior population overall, according to the analysis, which is based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey and U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.

“Recent household surveys show that retirees of color, especially blacks and Latinos, rely more heavily on Social Security and have less access to other types of retirement income than their white counterparts,” researcher Nari Rhee of UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education, said in a statement.

Less than one-third of employed Latinos and less than half of black workers are covered by an employer-sponsored retirement plan, a key resource in ensuring adequate retirement income. As a result, they are disproportionately reliant on the limited income provided by Social Security, the report found.

Among retirees age 60 and older, people of color are disproportionately likely to be low income: For 2007-2009, 31.6 percent of blacks and 46.5 percent of Latinos were in the bottom 25 percent income group. The “other” race category of the Census, which includes Asian/Pacific Islander and Native American populations, is also more likely to be low-income (38 percent), the report noted.

“It is critical to improve both job access and job quality -- in terms of wages and benefits, including pension benefits -- to improve retirement prospects for current workers,” Rhee stated.

Comments

[Sherley]

08:33 PM on 02/22/2012

The current seniors spent most of their lives in low paying jobs. Low pay means low savings and low social security. We need to get finacially educated. Familys need to work harder to maintain as a unit.

[Chumbolex]

07:53 PM on 02/22/2012

"We have to save and prepare for our own future. The idea that the same country that enslaved us is now going take care of us is stupid." - My father when I graduated from grad school.

I miss him.

[spytheweb]

05:35 AM on 04/01/2012

You are just one car crash or cancer away from being homeless.

[Chumbolex]

01:36 PM on 04/02/2012

that I don't deny.

[akutan]

07:52 PM on 02/22/2012

The interesting thing is lack of financial discipline will hurt a conservative just as hard as a liberal.

[lnedykstra]

02:42 PM on 02/22/2012

You should see Edward 40 Hands on "Workaholics!"

[RhymeAndReason]

03:43 PM on 02/22/2012

Oh, if life and the world and history and the full story and facts could fit neatly into your three paragraph scenario.

[Quis Custodiet]

05:07 PM on 02/22/2012

History, interesting. We could discuss that but I sense a fundamental unwillingness on your part far as individual and collective accountability.

[mszksg]

10:06 PM on 02/22/2012

Your point is harsh and wrong. It is necessary to point out the alleged shortcomings of a group of people you know nothing about outside of Google? Let me tell you this. What you think of us is irrelevant. Our issues are our issues and it is none of your business. You are doing nothing but making yourself feel better. You should spend your time worrying about making your own community better. We will worry about our own and involve the people who are educated in the challenges we face and who can offer genuine concern and solutions.

[lnedykstra]

01:50 PM on 02/22/2012

Lemme throw my two cents in ... I am 28 years old, with a Masters. My future hubby is in law school. What can you assume from that sentence? "You have student loans??" DING DING! And please do not talk about how it was our choice to further our education and get these loans. Aside from the anecdotal success story, higher education is a MUST these days.

So we have student loans. In the future, we will have a house, a child (more than one? Ha! Can't afford it!) and additional expenditures to go along with it. I remember seeing a Fidelity Investment commercial that stated you needed to save $1m to comfortably retire. HA! I know only a few people who can do that (that are older now). Most of the older people I know LOST money when greedy Wall Street crooks played craps with their retirement funds, 401Ks, etc.

People in my generation? Forgettaboutit! Strapped with student loan debt? Outrageous cost of housing? High rates of unemployment? Unless you are inherit, are extremely good job with low cost of living ... retiring comfortably seems like a foreign concept.

[lnedykstra]

02:08 PM on 02/22/2012

I do remember going on a cruise and hearing the workers talk about how fast they pay down student loans ... but they lived in cramped conditions! Anywho, I am employed by the government and my man has to work for lawyers (ah ... that's the life! NOT) But your suggestion was great and I would recommend it for people who can do it! And besides ... you're on a cruise ship!

[akutan]

07:36 PM on 02/22/2012

Join the military. They need lawyers and they will pay off your student loans.

[spytheweb]

05:45 AM on 04/01/2012

The Armed Forces Offer Relief for Student Loan Debt.

But the cap for the Army, Navy is 65,000.00 and AF is 10,000.00. So if you owe 150,000, you're still in a hole and now you have people shooting at you.

http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourcesContent/0,13964,44245--,00.html

[spytheweb]

05:52 AM on 04/01/2012

A college degree is no guarantee of higher wages later in life.

Young college grads homeless, wandering for American Dream.

“We thought this was it. That we’d make some big bucks, get married and live happy ever after. But this darn recession hit, and we’re a good example of what happens when you’re busy doing other things and forget you’re vulnerable to such things as job loss, having no money and no place to go,”  

http://www.huliq.com/10282/young-college-grads-homeless-wandering-and-looking-american-dream

[asantewa3]

01:10 PM on 02/22/2012

I'm not sure why I couldn't reply to bcunnin679, so I'm writing it here. Everyone does not have the opportunity, that is a ridiculous statement to make. Just because you and the Blacks and Latinos that you know were able to save for your future doesn't mean that others squandered their opportunities or money. The fact that you call the belief in Social Security misinformation shows that there was propaganda that it would always be around. I'm sure you and your friends are receiving and using Social Security as a way to pay bills and keep yourself going no matter how well you "prepared" for your future.

[hawaiianstile]

09:49 AM on 02/22/2012

shoulda called the article "business as usual in the USA"

[ScarlettMocha]

10:44 AM on 02/22/2012

fo sho!

[hawaiianstile]

02:13 PM on 02/22/2012

spare me your racist driven pseudo logic.

[RhymeAndReason]

03:51 PM on 02/22/2012

Wow you blow a hole in your own theory in your posts yet you don't see it. Reread your lasts two sentences in paragraph one then ponder that for a minute. And you might want to google some history, studies and surveys and I bet if you read with an open mind and heart—some real "complete" answers might come to you.

[Craig Doing The Douggie]

09:04 AM on 02/22/2012

Too many people (all races) fail to realize that Social Security is desinged as a SUPPLEMENT to retirement. For those who work for companies that don't have an employer sponsored 401(k) plan, there are alternatives in the form of IRA's through private firms. Also, some common sense, when it comes to lifestyle choices comes, into play.

If you can't afford a $300,000 home...don't buy it.

Why buy a $42,000 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor that gets 15/20 mpg when an $18,000 Nissan Frontier (19/23 mpg) will get you from Point A to Point B just as well.

If you live "paycheck to paycheck", look at your expenditures. I guarantee there are unnecessary expenditure areas you can cut and invest in retirement account. Better to save a little than none at all.

[SisterAnn]

09:45 AM on 02/22/2012

It wasn't designed as a supplement. It is the only retirement of many people.

You don't get the match with an IRA outside of work.

You are talking down to people who make $30,000 to $50,000 and many of them usually buy a used car.

Believe it or not, sometimes there is more week than there is a paycheck. Unless your expect these people to live in severe austerity, then they should at least earn enough to have things we all enjoy.

Why should we trust the leaders of this country with our savings?

[bcunnin679]

10:11 AM on 02/22/2012

If there is more week than paycheck then it is because many people never plan for the future. Many are living for today, while that is fine maybe in early years there comes a time when one must prepare for the future

[ScarlettMocha]

10:48 AM on 02/22/2012

Ghost poster w/ 1fan:
U failed to really grasp the issue. None of the above can happen because wages are too low for the group you're trying to encourage to purchase an IRA. Hell they're trying to juggle gas & electric bills against groceries and medicine. You must be a 1% supporter.

[Craig Doing The Douggie]

12:58 PM on 02/22/2012

Nice ASSumption, but untrue. If I was able to do it back when I was making $6.50/hr and on my own anyone can do it. Granted, I wasn't able to put away much, but I did figure out how to put something away.

[SisterAnn]

08:59 AM on 02/22/2012

Many of us don't have any extra money to save until we pay for our home and/or the kids leave home.

Studies have shown that most young families do not even think of retirement. My husband said he always thought he would be rich by the time he retired. LoL, he wasn't.

The beauty of Social Security is it is automatically taken from your paycheck for your retirement and it can't be borrowed from. If you become disabled or retire, presto, there you have your retirement benefits from Social Security.

[soli11]

10:08 AM on 02/22/2012

Social security isn't really supposed to be an investment account at all. These are solidarity payments designed to prevent impoverishment of the elderly provided by those still of working age. That is why it makes no sense for the government to stop taxing high income earners after the first hundred thousand earned. By removing the cap, we can ensure the long term viability of social security.

[SisterAnn]

11:01 AM on 02/22/2012

Yes, it used to work for the young to pay for the elderly, but then we were told the boomers would be too many for the younger workers, so we sort of prepaid our retirement by paying in double Social Security. They need to take the cap off, plus they need to make the wealthy pay what they should have been paying, if they want to draw benefits.

[hjo4]

08:01 AM on 02/22/2012

Strange how this article fails to take into account that we American Blacks are in the first generations to retiree on the same level with our White counterparts many from lower paying jobs than them also. The Civil Rights Bill was signed in '64, real enforcement didn't really occur until the '70's.OTHO American Whites had a 97yr old leg up in the game enabling them to prepare for their retirement, it's expected that none of them should retire in poverty. It's important to remember that we are less than 50yrs of legally having our Equal Rights, access and opportunity on a historical context because that does play a very important part with American Blacks being in poverty. Surely no one expects 47yrs of Equality could make up for the 97yrs of legal discrimination that disenfranchised us as a people.

[SisterAnn]

08:43 AM on 02/22/2012

Most people didn't have income during retirement until Social Security started in 1940. Many farmers and others who didn't get a steady paycheck didn't get Social Security. They did make it more fair as time went on and farmers and others were added to the Social Security rolls.

Many whites start out with no money and a poor paying job. Blacks don't have as big a disadvantage now. The oldest boomers were born in 1946. They would be 66 now and can retire at full retirement age. Most started to work in 1966 and have worked 46 years.

I am not sure when we all started getting good chances to go to college using affordable student loans and grants.

It makes a difference what your parents had. My dad received Social Security and it kept him and mom from having to live with the rest of us and it kept them from losing their home.

They like to say that Social Security isn't supposed to be your full retirement. It was for my parents and most who live in the rural towns. Except for our IRA, which we are blowing through at a fast speed, we consider our Social Security our full retirement. A lot of our IRA has went to stock market losses and taxes when we take money out.

The main thing is to have your home paid for before retirement. Buy a home you can afford and stay with it and don't get equity loans.

[hjo4]

09:00 AM on 02/22/2012

Most people didn't have income during retirement until Social Security started in 1940

The New Deal which included Social Security was LEGALLY DENIED to the then American Negro, as was Welfare at it's inception. I believe that became law in the 60's.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=477

Those advantages coupled with Jim Crow laws that denied American Blacks opportunity and access surely does play a huge part in the income disparities between the two groups.

[ScarlettMocha]

10:51 AM on 02/22/2012

Fanned!
But I would state that whites had a greater "leg up" than 97 yrs. They've always had the leg up and mostly at our expense and from our labor.

[hjo4]

12:08 PM on 02/22/2012

But I would state that whites had a greater "leg up" than 97 yrs

I was trying to be kind. ;-)

They've always had the leg up and mostly at our expense and from our labor.]

That's a fact.

[luapmi2]

04:59 AM on 02/22/2012

And they didn't save because they are black and that is the fault of the white guy....some things never change.

[hawaiianstile]

09:56 AM on 02/22/2012

they put the blame where it belongs. they as a people have not yet recovered from your people owning them like animals, that is obvious enough with abundant evidence like the study in this article. you speak from pure ignorance.

[luapmi2]

02:06 AM on 02/23/2012

You can continue with excuses...just know you'll be eating dog food without some kind of effort on your part.

[Aristarchy]

04:46 AM on 02/22/2012

Is this news ?

[ScarlettMocha]

10:52 AM on 02/22/2012

Not to us.

[jmoser1973]

10:47 PM on 02/21/2012

Some of the statistics are due to lack of knowledge of how to save for retirement. I know a couple black workers at my previous job that refused to put money into the retirement. I was good friends with one of them and I tried convincing her to get enrolled in the 401k but she says her parents don't trust it so she won't. She would also argue that she has a baby and would rather have her money now. Meanwhile, my retirement was growing there. Blacks and latinos need to educate themselves on retirement options. If you have a 401k plan at work, please look into it. If you don't, look into other options. In my 20's I didn't have a job that had 401k because we were all part time. I invested with an outside firm.

[mr whiteffolks]

10:57 PM on 02/21/2012

100% agreed !

[soli11]

02:49 AM on 02/22/2012

It doesn't help that major US banks deliberately targeted black Americans with loan products which were designed to fail. (i.e. Reverse amortization loans, "Pick a Pay" loans, etc) What an "education" they have already received!

[jmoser1973]

04:47 AM on 02/22/2012

Banks targeted all Americans that they could. Banks saw no color. I am white and I had a bank insist that a reverse mortgage was my only option. I went elsewhere because I educated myself on loan types and knew my credit score before walking into a bank. I actually dealt with two other mortgage brokers before finding one that was interested in a real down payment and not a shotty loan.
I do feel uneducated were targeted in every race. They hung it in front of most of our(buyers) faces and waited to see who would bite. It is so important for all of us to educate ourselves and not assume that the guy in the suit is honest and there for us. I truly feel for anyone who was taken by a fraudulent loan. At least in my case, I was offered several of those interest only loans, but was told that I would have the higher payments in so many years. I think any mortgage company who did not explain that should be shut down.

[ms lady S]

10:05 PM on 02/21/2012

To wkingsolomon: Tears came to my eyes when I read your comment, because of the truths it contains. I lived during the old jim crow era, I very rarely saw my mother she worked in house all week long and a lot of times on the weekends for 15.00 to 25.00 a week. The people she worked for would not even give her the diginity of calling her by her birth name. In the end there seemed to be little to live off let alone save. Yet, when it was time for me to graduate I found she had put back change from her earnings to pay all of the required senior dues.

[mr whiteffolks]

10:44 PM on 02/21/2012

Your mom was not unlike a lot of Black women back in the day who traveled far from their homes to clean and care for someone else's home for very little pay and hardly no respect ! The sad thing is women like your mom may not have had many choices unlike today and sadly our young women are only having kid after kid and not being productive or appreciative of the sacrifices of those before us who fought to to give us a better opportunity at a better life.