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Changes in Income within a Cohort over the Later Life Course: Evidence for Income Status Convergence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Steven G. Prus
Steven G. Prus*
Affiliation:
Carleton University*
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to: / Les demandes de tirés-a-part doivent être adressées à : Steven Prus, Ph.D., Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa ONK1S 5B6. (sprus@ccs.carleton.ca)
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Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which an individual's income-status position relative to that of others in the same cohort is maintained over the later life course. Changes in the income status of individuals born between 1924 and 1928 are estimated by means of synthetic cohort methods. Using a series of cross-sectional data files from every fifth Survey of Consumer Finances, starting in 1978, the findings show that, from ages 50 to 64, persons of this birth cohort with early-life socio-economic status advantages (namely high education) improve their absolute and relative income status position vis-à-vis others with status disadvantages. For ages 65 to 74, the economic well-being of individuals with status advantages and disadvantages converge. Since Canada's public pension programs are relatively well developed in terms of comprehensiveness and generosity, they do a good job at countering the effects of status background characteristics on the distribution of income in old age. In the absence of these programs (i.e., up to age 64), the relative position of those with high education and other advantaged groups is strengthened.

Résumé

Cette étude examine jusqu'à quel point la position en matière de statut de revenu d'une personne est soutenue au cours de la vie avancée en relation aux autres personnes de la même cohorte. L'étude offre une évaluation par moyen de cohortes synthétiques des changements de statut de revenu des personnes nées de 1924 à 1928. La recherche repose sur une série de fichiers de données transversales tirées de chaque cinquième Enquête sur les finances des consommateurs dès 1978. Les résultats démontrent que les personnes de 50 à 64 ans figurant à cette table de mortalité et qui bénéficient des avantages d'un statut socio-économique dès leur bas âge (surtout la formation supérieure), améliorent leur position en matière de statut de revenu absolu et relatif vis-à-vis les autres personnes désavantagées en matière de statut. Le bien-être économique des personnes de 65 à 74 ans et favorisées et défavorisées en matière de statut est sujet à une convergence. La mature quasi complète et généreuse des programmes canadiens d'éparque retraite permet d'aller à l'encontre des conséquences des caractéristiques des antécédents de statut sur la distribution de revenus durant la vieillesse. Lorsque ces programmes n'existent pas (c.-à.-d. jusqu'à l'âge de 64 ans), la position relative est renforcie pour ceux qui bénéficient d'une formation supérieure et ceux dans les groupes favorisés.

Keywords

agingincome inequalitystatus maintenancecohort analysisvieillissementinégalité de revenusmaintien du statutanalyse de cohorte
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , Winter/Hiver 2002 , pp. 495 - 504
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2002

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Footnotes

*This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) through a grant (Grant No. 412–98–0008) to the SEDAP (Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population) Research Program. The author wishes to thank Byron G. Spencer and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this article.

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