Movements out of Poverty among Elderly Widows

Abstract

Elderly widows are disproportionately in poverty in the United States. However, past research has also shown that a significant number of poor elderly widows do move out of poverty. This work addresses two questions: What are the characteristics of elderly widows who exited from poverty, and what is the magnitude of the increase in income at the time of exit? An event history approach was taken using monthly data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Some of the findings are: living with family members is a strong predictor for the transition out of poverty among poor elderly women; those who are permanently impoverished tend to rely solely on food stamps and SSI; elderly widows from poverty with relatively large increases in income; those who exited due to an increase in pension income or gifts had increased their income significantly more than those who exited through other sources.