Since the early 1900s, female life expectancy has exceeded male life expectancy, resulting in women outnumbering men in the older age groups. Although gender differences in life expectancy have been decreasing, women age 65 and over continue to outnumber men age 65 and over. This trend is projected to continue over the next 4 decades. Further, the population age 65 and over is expected to more than double from 2010 to 2050. The population of women among the “oldest-old”— those 85 and over—is also projected to grow. Today, of those age 65 and over, one-sixth of women and one-tenth of men are among the oldest-old and this is projected to grow to almost one-quarter of women and one-fifth of all men by 2050. Women’s workforce participation surged over the last half of the 20th century. Among women ages 25 to 54, the rate of labor force participation jumped from 42 percent by the end of the 1950s to about 74 percent by the late 1980s. The rate continued to grow in the 1990s but at a slower pace. Over the last decade, the rate declined slightly from its peak of 76.8 percent in 1999, and was 74.7 percent in 2011. Labor force participation rates have varied by generation, with women born in the baby boom generation much more likely to be in the workforce than preceding generations. have increased significantly for women ages 55 to 64 (see fig. 1). The baby boom generation consists of individuals born from 1946 to 1964. Although the composition of retirement income—the proportion of income coming from different sources—varies greatly for individual households, Social Security benefits, pension income, and earnings make up the bulk of income for the U.S. population age 65 and over. Social Security provides retirement benefits to eligible workers, based on their work and earnings history. Social Security also provides benefits to eligible workers who become disabled before reaching retirement age, as well as spouses, widow(er)s, and children of eligible workers. Although all Social Security benefits are based upon a common formula, they are calculated in different ways for each beneficiary type. The level of the monthly benefit is adjusted for inflation and varies depending on the age at which the beneficiary chooses to begin receiving benefits. Generally, beneficiaries may begin receiving retirement benefits at age 62; however, the payments will be higher if they wait to receive benefits at their full retirement age, which varies from 65 to 67, depending on the beneficiary’s birth year. The monthly retirement benefit continues to rise for workers who delay benefits beyond their full retirement age, up to age 70. Employees and employers pay payroll taxes that finance Social Security benefits. However, Social Security faces a long-term financing shortfall resulting largely from lower birth rates and longer life spans. According to the Social Security Trustees, the Social Security Trust Funds could be exhausted by 2033 and unable to pay full benefits. Pension income from employer-provided retirement plans falls into two broad categories: DB and DC pension plans. DB plans typically provide retirement benefits to each retiree in the form of an annuity that provides a monthly payment for life, the value of which is typically determined by a formula based on particular factors specified by the plan, such as salary or years of service. Under DC plans, workers and employers may make contributions into individual accounts. Workers can also save for retirement through an individual retirement account (IRA). IRAs allow workers to receive favorable tax treatment for making contributions to an individual account. At retirement, participants’ distribution options vary depending on the type of pension plan. Private sector DB plans must offer participants a benefit in the form of a lifetime annuity (either immediately or deferred). An annuity can help to protect a retiree against risks, including the risk of outliving one’s assets (longevity risk) and, when an inflation-adjusted annuity is provided, the risk of inflation diminishing one’s purchasing power. Some DB plans also give participants a choice to take a lump sum cash settlement (distribution) or roll over funds to an IRA, instead of taking a lifetime annuity. In contrast, DC plan sponsors are not required to offer a lifetime annuity and more often provide participants with a lump sum distribution as the only option. Other options for DC participants may include leaving money in the plan, taking a partial distribution, rolling their plan savings into an IRA, or purchasing an annuity, which are typically only available outside of the plan. In addition, whether a pension plan is a DB or DC has implications for whether a spouse is entitled to the pension’s benefits. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires that DB plans include a survivor’s benefit, called a qualified joint and survivor annuity. Thus, after a worker with a DB plan dies, the surviving spouse continues to receive an annuity, but typically at a reduced level. A qualified joint and survivor annuity may only be waived through a written spousal consent. Under most DC plans, the plan is written so that the employee may, during his or her lifetime, make withdrawals from the account or roll over the balance into an IRA without spousal consent, provided that the employee’s vested account balance is payable in full on death to the surviving spouse. Over the past quarter-century, the percentage of private sector workers participating in employer-sponsored pension plans has held steady at about 50 percent. Although some workers choose not to participate in an employer-sponsored pension plan, the large majority of nonparticipating workers do not have access to one. In addition, over the last 3 decades, the U.S. retirement system has undergone a major transition from one based primarily on DB plans to one based on DC plans, increasing workers’ exposure to economic volatility and usually shifting the burden of saving to the individual worker, which makes them more reliant on their own decision making. As we have previously reported, from 1990 to 2008, the number of active participants in private sector DB plans fell by 28 percent, from about 26 million to about 19 million. Over the same period, the number of active participants in DC plans increased by 90 percent, from about 35 million to about 67 million. DC plans generally do not offer annuities, so retirees are left with increasingly important decisions about managing their retirement savings to ensure they have income throughout retirement. These decisions may be more difficult to make in times of economic volatility. For example, two recent recessions—one beginning in March 2001 and ending in November 2001 and the other beginning in December 2007 and ending in June 2009— resulted in major stock indices falling dramatically. The long-term effects of financial market fluctuations on retirement income security are uncertain, but the effects may vary based on factors such as age, type of pension plan, and employment status. Employment status, in particular, can pose serious challenges for retirement security. As we recently reported, long-term unemployment can reduce an older worker’s future monthly retirement income in numerous ways such as by reducing the number of years the worker can accumulate DB plan retirement benefits or DC plan savings, by motivating workers to claim Social Security at an earlier age, and by leading workers to draw down retirement savings to pay for expenses during unemployment. From 1998 to 2009, working women surpassed men in their likelihood of having an employer that offered a pension plan, but were slightly less likely to be eligible for and to participate in those plans. However, this gap, narrowed over time. In fact, by 2009, the same proportion of working women and men ultimately participated in some type of plan (either a DB or a DC) as shown in figure 2. Nonetheless, women’s contribution rates to DC plans remained lower than those of men. While working men and women were just as likely to have employers that offered pension plans in 1998, by 2009, these women were more likely than men to work for employers that offered pension plans (see fig. 3). This may be due to the sectors and industries in which women worked. For example, a greater proportion of women than men worked in the public and nonprofit sectors—sectors that have higher proportions of workers with access to plans offered by employers—than the for-profit sector. Women were also more likely to work in the education and health industries—industries that have higher proportions of workers with access to plans offered by employers. In contrast, men had higher rates of self- employment over this period, and self-employed individuals were much less likely to have retirement plans. In addition, from 1998 to 2009, the proportion of working women and men with employers that offered pension plans declined after 2003, possibly reflecting the decline in the number of employers offering DB plans.women working for employers offering DC plans increased, rising from 41 to 49 percent (see fig. 3). With the exception of 1998, women were more likely to work for employers that offered DC plans than were men. The composition of women’s and men’s retirement income did not vary greatly over the last decade despite changes in the economy and pension system, largely because their main income sources—Social Security and DB plans—were shielded from fluctuations in the financial market. However, women, especially widows and those 80 years and over, depended on Social Security benefits for a larger percentage of their income than men. In contrast, women received a lower share of their income from earnings than men. Women age 65 and over also had less retirement income on average and higher rates of poverty than men in that age group. Specifically, for the population age 65 and over, women’s median income was approximately 25 percent lower than men in the same age group for all years. Moreover, women in this age group were nearly twice as likely to be living in poverty than men. The composition of household income for women and men age 65 and over fluctuated only slightly from 1998 to 2010, despite changes in the economy and the pension system (see fig. 8).