Economic Status of T H E Aged

* Social Security Board Bureau of Research and Statistics. There are nearly 8 m i l l i o n persons i n the U n i t e d States who have reached or passed the cr i t ical age of 65 Part icular interest attaches to them because of State and Federal legislation recently enacted to br ing them a measure of economic security. D u r i n g the years to come, most i n dustrial and commercial workers w i l l count on modest annuities under t i t l e I I of the Social Security A c t , and i t is entirely probable t h a t many other persons not now covered by the insurance features of the act w i l l receive such protection. Taxat ion of employees and employers under t i t l e V I I I of the Social Security A c t and the use of Federal and State revenues for old-age assistance under title I have called f o r t h discussion concerning the wisdom of social pro vision for old-age support . Opinion i n the press and elsewhere has been divided as to the need of the aged for special consideration and protective legislation. M a n y individualists s t i l l believe t h a t provision for old age should be a matter of personal i n i t i a t i v e and that , by and large, only the i m p r o v i d e n t find i t necessary to seek public or pr ivate char i ty . There is also widespread belief t h a t government should not impinge upon the tradit ions of fami ly responsibility for the aged. Then , too, i t is pointed out , increasing numbers of persons are enjoying the benefits of public and pr ivate pensions and annuities as Government systems expand and industry makes more generous provision for retired workers under group insurance. I n evaluating such statements and i n ar r i v ing at a quant i ta t ive conception of the extent to which persons 65 and over are dependent upon others for support, i t would be h ighly desirable i f we could ascertain the economic status of each person i n this age group. Clearly, no direct method of determining the means of support of the aged is possible A house-to-house canvass, even i f practicable, would fai l to y ie ld the desired in format ion , for persons who were not apply ing for, or already receiving, public or private relief would be under no compulsion to reveal the sources and amount of their income A few surveys of this type have been made i n the past, b u t they are ou t of date and are open to cr i t i c ism as being either biased or inadequate i n scope, or n o t sufficiently penet r a t i n g . I n default of any direct method of obta in ing an economic census of the aged, an indirect method is here presented, based on an analysis o f statist ical , social, and economic data (table 1). These data are believed to be reasonably accurate as of some date dur ing the year ended A p r i l 15, 1937, usually as of December 3 1 , 1936. When current stat is tics have been lacking, estimates have been made f rom the latest in format ion available.