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Oct 5, 2017

How Much Does Motherhood Cost Women in Social Security Benefits?

     From the abstract of How Much Does Motherhood Cost Women in Social Security Benefits?, a study by Matthew S. Rutledge , Alice Zulkarnain and Sara Ellen King:
  • The lifetime earnings of mothers with one child are 28 percent less than the earnings of childless women, all else equal, and each additional child lowers lifetime earnings by another 3 percent.
  • When examining Social Security benefits, the motherhood penalty is smaller than the earnings penalty. But mothers with one child still receive 16 percent less in benefits than non-mothers, and each additional child reduces benefits by another 2 percent.
  • The motherhood penalty is almost negligible among women receiving spousal benefits, but mothers who receive benefits on only their own earnings histories see significantly lower Social Security income.

3 comments:

  1. Mothers with disabilities who are on Social Security Disability have known this for. a long time.

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  2. There is no penalty for being a mother as far as SSA goes. They get benefits based on what they paid in on their own record. It's the same amount as someone who is not a mother who works the same amount of time.

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  3. What a pointless study--is it anti-motherhood? Is it proposing or setting the stage for some type of "remedy" to a so called "penalty"? Government funded research at work. Jeez...

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