Kimberly Snow, Senior Research Associate at the Catherine Cutler Institute and co-director of the Consortium for Aging Policy Research and Analysis (CAPRA), was a VIP Caller on Maine Calling’s August 14th episode on Social Security.
Host Jennifer Rooks asked Kim about her research on disparities in income between men and women and how that impacts meeting their needs in later life. Kim provided examples of the reasons why some women make less money in their lifetime than men.
“There are lots of reasons for it, but we definitely hear about women leaving the workforce—their full-time careers—or going to part-time work or lower-wage jobs that have more flexibility because they need to do some caregiving for a family person. It’s not just for caring for young kids; it could be caring for an aging parent and aging spouse or just another adult family member with a disability. So, when women interrupt their full-time careers and do that, it really takes them out of the running for being able to participate in an employer’s 401K plan or other retirement savings vehicle and, ultimately, that lower lifetime earning impacts Social Security benefits that a woman will eventually have.”
– Kimberly Snow
– Kimberly Snow
The full episode can be heard on the Maine Public website.