Reports show fewer New York seniors have stable retirement income.
A Center for an Urban Future report found almost half of the state’s senior population has no retirement income and lacks access to Social Security benefits in 2022. The challenge is compounded by new data showing Social Security’s reserves could run out in 2034, forcing a 23% cut across the board.
Robyn Haberman, associate state director of community engagement for AARP New York, said people do not always plan for the future.
“We think more about our immediate needs as humans than we do think about anything else,” Haberman pointed out. “That’s why AARP puts a focus on planning to remind people how important it is that we need to be paying attention to these things, not just we pay our bills today but how are we going to pay them in the long run?”
With people living longer, some seniors are re-entering the workforce to have some income. Given New York’s high cost of living, the report noted around 54% of older adults are still in the workforce. Haberman added there are many tools available like AARP’s retirement calculator to determine how much a person will need to live as they age.
The situation did not just happen overnight. The report found New York’s senior population blossomed from 14% to 18% in the last decade, and the poverty rate for seniors grew faster.
Eli Dvorkin, editorial and policy director at the Center for an Urban Future, said it can be hard to reverse the trend since some older New Yorkers might not have worked enough to qualify for Social Security.
“(It) doesn’t mean folks weren’t working, but they may have been caregivers in the home for part of their working lives,” Dvorkin explained. “They may have been working off the books for part of their lives, they might have had a side hustle, or a small business that didn’t qualify them for Social Security.”
Reversing the trend is challenging given some jobs seniors had, did not offer a retirement plan. And some people might not have had the money to save for retirement due to family obligations, higher costs of living, and more.
Dvorkin stressed it has resulted in a growing number of older adults without one of the most fundamental benefits of a lifetime of work.
Edwin is a reporter and producer in North Tonawanda, New York. He’s previously reported for the Niagara Gazette and the Ithaca Times. Edwin got an early start in radio interning for WBFO-88.7FM, NPR’s Buffalo affiliate. In 2018, he graduated from SUNY Buffalo State College with a B.A. in Journalism, and in 2022, graduated from Syracuse University with an M.S. in Communications.