Gender Gap at Retirement in US – The average total income of women over age 65 is just 55 percent of older men’s income

Democrats in Congress often lament the fact that full-time working women in the United States earn 78 cents for every dollar men earn, but less attention is paid to the much wider and harder-hitting income gap for women in retirement.

According to a report Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) released Thursday, the average total income of women over age 65 is just 55 percent of older men’s income, and those women are nearly twice as likely as men to live in poverty. Women’s median retirement income is about $16,000 a year, while men’s is nearly $30,000. And while more women depend on Social Security benefits than men, men 65 and older receive an average of $18,000 a year in benefits, compared to only $14,000 for women.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Retired Women Are Twice As Poor As Retired Men: Report.