TY - RPRT T1 - How Much Does Social Security Offset the Motherhood Penalty? Y1 - 2021 A1 - Matthew S. Rutledge A1 - Alice Zulkarnain A1 - Sara Ellen King KW - Motherhood KW - Social Security AB - When women become mothers, their labor market income often takes a substantial hit. This “motherhood earnings penalty” becomes even larger with each additional child and permanently reduces earnings throughout mothers’ worklives. Previous studies have linked the penalty to mothers’ reduced educational attainment, more time out of the workforce, higher job search costs, and poor job matches. What remains unanswered is the extent to which the penalty impacts women’s retirement income. This brief, based on a recent study, answers part of this question by looking at how Social Security provisions address the motherhood penalty. The discussion proceeds as follows. The first section explains how Social Security can impact the motherhood earnings penalty and reduce retirement income shortfalls for mothers. The second section lays out the data and methodology for this analysis. The third section finds that Social Security offsets a substantial portion of the earnings penalty. The final section concludes that – despite the equalizing role played by Social Security – a motherhood earnings penalty will remain without policy intervention, such as earnings credits for caregivers. JF - Briefs PB - Center for Retirement Research at Boston College CY - Chestnut Hill, MA UR - https://crr.bc.edu/briefs/how-much-does-social-security-offset-the-motherhood-penalty/ ER - TY - RPRT T1 - How Much Does Motherhood Cost Women in Social Security Benefits? Y1 - 2017 A1 - Matthew S. Rutledge A1 - Alice Zulkarnain A1 - Sara Ellen King KW - Labor force participation KW - Motherhood KW - Social Security KW - Women and Minorities AB - The increase in female labor force participation coupled with a higher number of women reaching retirement unmarried has increased the share of women claiming Social Security benefits earned through their own job histories. But they still bear the lion’s share of caregiving responsibilities, and the previous literature has provided clear evidence that motherhood reduces earnings during the childbearing and child-rearing years. What remains understudied is the extent to which mothers face lower lifetime earnings and, consequently, lower Social Security income. This paper uses the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked to administrative earnings records to answer three questions. First, how much less do mothers earn over their careers compared to childless women, and how much less do they earn for each additional child? Second, how do Social Security benefits differ between mothers and non-mothers? Third, how does each of the existing elements of the Social Security system that indirectly help mothers – namely, spousal benefits and the progressivity of the benefit formula – contribute to reducing the motherhood penalty? JF - Working Papers PB - Center for Retirement Research at Boston College CY - Boston, MA UR - http://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/wp_2017-14.pdf ER -