Widows Earn Less and Spend Differently

WASHINGTON — Older widows have less money and spend more of it on food, health care and shelter than women who are divorced or never married.

“Policy-makers may need to recognize that changes in Social Security, eligibility for public programs and rules regarding employment of older people affect widowed, divorced and never-married women differently,” a new report concluded.

“Because widows had a husband’s earnings, one might expect them to be better off than divorced or never-married women,” said F.N. Schwenk in her study.

But that was not the case.

Widows had average annual incomes of $9,777, while never-married women averaged $12,415. Those who had been divorced had average incomes of $11,077, according to the study of women age 65 and older living alone.

The study found that widows spent an average of $9,929 a year. Spending averaged $11,084 for those who had never married and $11,432 for divorced women.

Widowed and divorced women likely were drawing on savings but could also be borrowing using a home equity program, she said.

“Widowed women allocated a higher share of total expenditures to housing, food and health than the others,” Schwenk reported in Family Economics Review, a publication of the Agriculture Department. Her study was based on a survey of 3,395 women in 1988-89.

Widows spent 42% of their income, $4,182, on housing. Divorced women spent a bit more, $4,697, but that represented 41% of their income. Never-married women, on the other hand, spent $3,868 on housing, just 35% of income.

Schwenk said “widowed and divorced women may have higher housing costs because they may be living in the house where they raised their children, perhaps a larger house than a never-married woman would choose.”

Indeed, she found that the homes of never-married women averaged 1.9 bedrooms, compared to 2.1 for widows and divorced women.

Food cost widows 19% of their income at $1,884. As with housing, divorced women spent more, but their $1,952 in food costs amounted to a smaller share of income, 17%. That was the same percentage as never-married women, who spent $1,863 on food.

Health care followed the same pattern, costing widows 14% of their income, while the other two groups each spent 10%.

“Divorced women spent more on apparel and retirement, both work-related expenses. Never-married women allocated more to cash contributions and life insurance,” Schwenk reported.

Widowed women received about 60% of their income from Social Security, 17% from interest on savings and investments, 13% from pensions and annuities and 8% from earnings.

By contrast, divorced women received 48% from Social Security, 6% from interest, 18% from pensions and 20% from earnings.

For never-married women, Social Security provided 46% of their income; 19% came from interest, 28% from pensions and annuities and only 7% came from earnings.

Some 19% of divorced women were still working, compared with 14% of never-married women and 9% of widows.