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Tip
Sheet: Culture & Living Tip sheets highlight timely news and events at Washington University in St. Louis. For more information on any of the stories below or for assistance in arranging interviews, please see the contact information listed with each story. For comments on the Culture & Living news tips service, please contact the editor, Sue Killenberg McGinn at (314) 935-5254 or susan_killenberg_mcginn@aismail.wustl.edu. Research reveals huge gaps in net worth between elderly blacks, whites Media assistance: Ann Nicholson - (314) 935-5251 Related: Martha N. Ozawa's web page [St. Louis, Mo., 12-1-00] - A recent study indicates enormous differences in net worth between elderly black and white people - even among groups with relatively similar educational backgrounds and work histories. The majority of the black elderly retirees also earned less than half that of white elderly people during their total working years, according to the study published in the "Social Work Research" journal. "Analysis of Social Security Administration data tracking individuals 10 years after retirement demonstrated the net worth of black people was 90 percent smaller than that for white people with similar educational backgrounds, work histories or lifetime earnings," said Martha N. Ozawa, Ph.D., the Bettie Bofinger Brown Professor of Social Policy at Washington University in St. Louis' George Warren Brown School of Social Work. • The median net worth for elderly black people was $16,091 vs. $110,839 for elderly white people. • The median lifetime earnings for black people was $223,573 vs. $490,169 for the white elderly. • While education, occupation, consistent employment and lifetime earnings all had major effects on the future of net worth among white men, advantages in these areas did not give black men the same boost. • The only factor determining higher net worth among black men was consistent employment. • Lifetime earnings, however, did give black women a boost in their eventual net worth, although not as much as for white men. Education, and, to some extent, occupational opportunities also helped black women achieve a higher net worth in old age. • The biggest factors giving white women an edge were better educational and occupational opportunities, and consistent employment. Ozawa and Huan-yui Tseng, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work at Shih-Chien University in Taipei, Taiwan, conducted statistical analysis of data from 8,352 people for their article "Differences in Net Worth between Elderly Black People and Elderly White People." The sample group was taken from those who began receiving Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance and/or Medicare between mid-1980 and mid-1981. • Net worth - the total assets minus debts - includes assets from money market accounts, checking accounts, certificates of deposit, savings accounts, bonds, stocks, mutual funds, IRA/Keogh accounts, home equity and business equity. Net worth was measured in 1992 dollars. The sample study of retirees comprised those age 73 and older, with 7.4 percent of the respondents being black. "Profound policy implications can be drawn from the findings of this study," Ozawa noted. "Because black people's assets are so small, they have little or no income from assets, and thus receive a major part of their retirement income from Social Security benefits. Thus the gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' continues to widen in old age." Ozawa added that further research is needed to determine "why 'success' achieved during the working lives of black men does not result in greater net worth in old age for this group." |
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