Retirement Inequality by Race and Ethnicity

Abstract

Workers have to accumulate substantial savings to supplement Social Security benefits. Yet, retirement inequality has grown over the past four decades (Munnell et al., 2021). The gap in retirement security between those who are more and those who are less likely to face a secure retirement has widened, in particular, by race and ethnicity. A large and growing number of African American, Latino, and many Asian American households have less wealth to supplement their Social Security benefits than white households, as a review by the authors shows (Francis & Weller, 2021b).