A note on methods used in this section
Women who responded to M4 were asked what their sources of income were if they were already retired, or what their expected sources of income in their older years would be if they were not retired. They were divided into two groups: those who were receiving, or expected primarily to receive, some form of income from the government, and those with income from private sources.
To make these groups mutually exclusive, anyone who answered that they received an Age pension/Service pension/War Widow's pension or other government pension or allowance, whether they answered some of the non-government options or not, were classified as receiving government funding. Otherwise they fell into the category of non-government funding.
As before, the occupation of the retired group was determined by referring to M1 whereas the occupation of the not-retired group was obtained from M4.
Same sex and opposite sex de facto relationships were combined into the category of de facto.
Actual and expected sources of retirement income
Women now in mid-age have lower levels of economic assets and superannuation than men (see, for example, Warren, 2006) and ALSWH data show that a greater percentage of women who are not retired compared to those who are already retired indicate that they will be looking to some form of government support in their retirement.
Women who were already retired in 2004 said that they were reliant principally on income from a partner, a pension from sources other than the Age or Widow's pension, or savings and investments.
Forty-five percent of the women who were not retired expected to be on a government pension, compared to only just over 20 per cent of women who were already retired.
Table 6 shows the percentages in detail. Note that these categories are not mutually exclusive.
Table 6: Actual sources of retirement income for women retired at M4, and expected sources of retirement income for women not retired at M4
| Source of funding |
Not retired |
Retired |
| *Age/service/war/war widow pension |
45.1 |
20.77 |
| *Income from savings and investments |
43.6 |
27.2 |
| *Lump sum superannuation |
42.7 |
12.1 |
| *Pension or annuity |
31.4 |
13.5 |
| *Income/pension from spouse/partner |
22.7 |
35.1 |
| *Other government pension or allowance |
13.2 |
29.5 |
| *Income from a business |
9.5 |
5.6 |
| Don't know |
7.2 |
5.2 |
| Other sources |
1.7 |
2.6 |
| Financial support from family |
1.7 |
2.2 |
* Statistically significant ( p = <0001).
Figure 17 graphically indicates differences in source of retirement funding depending on retirement status. As noted above, while these categories are not mutually exclusive, the figure shows that the differences in these two groups are quite marked, with many of those who had already retired being supported by more 'traditional' resources including husband or partner. This group also includes women on other pensions, such as women with a disability and carers on limited incomes.
Figure 17: Source of retirement income (actual and expected) according to retirement status
Appendix C provides both participant numbers and percentages of reported sources of retirement income according to retirement status.
Sources of funding and personal characteristics
As noted above, respondents were divided into two main categories according to retirement income: those who were receiving or expected to access some form of government provision such as the Age pension, and those who were receiving or expected to have some other form of income, which is termed here 'non-government provision'. The following section explores associations between primary source of funding and participants' personal characteristics.
Relationship
Differences in (expected or actual) sources of retirement funding according to relationship status were demonstrated (Figure 18). It seems that women who have had a partner at some time in the past, but are now separated, divorced or widowed will be more likely to be reliant on the government than those who are currently partnered, or those who have never had a partner. Regardless of whether they become supporting parents or not, women who have had a weak attachment to the labour market when they were younger are likely to face difficulties getting back in to paid work (Probert and Macdonald, 1999).
Figure 18: Expected or actual source of retirement income by relationship status
Occupation
It is also very clear from the results shown in Figure 19 below that women in lower status occupations are more likely to be reliant on a government pension to fund their retirement, while the majority of those in the higher status professional and managerial occupations are likely to have other sources of retirement income.
Figure 19: Expected or actual source of retirement funding by occupational category
Caring responsibilities
The following table shows actual or expected source of retirement funding according to various aspects of the provision of care to someone frail, ill or disabled, or to the provision of childcare.
There is a statistically significant difference in the expected or actual sources of income of caregivers compared to women not providing care. Caregivers are more likely than non-caregivers to be (or expect to be) reliant on government funding in their older years. This is particularly true for women providing care on a daily basis.
Table 7: Retirement income (actual or expected) by provision of care
| |
Government provision |
Other income |
|
|
| |
N |
% |
N |
% |
| Regularly provide care/assistance for |
|
|
|
|
| Someone who lives with you |
528 |
10.8 |
274 |
5.8 |
| Someone who lives elsewhere |
1042 |
21.3 |
995 |
21.1 |
| No-one |
3327 |
67.9 |
3441 |
73.1 |
| How many people with long-term illness, disability, frailty do you provide care for |
|
|
|
|
| One person |
1149 |
23.6 |
965 |
20.5 |
| Two people |
313 |
6.4 |
255 |
5.4 |
| More than two people |
131 |
2.7 |
83 |
1.8 |
| No care given |
3282 |
67.3 |
3402 |
72.3 |
| How often do you provide care for someone with long term illness, disability or frailty |
|
|
|
|
| Every day |
515 |
10.6 |
278 |
5.9 |
| Several times a week |
431 |
8.8 |
395 |
8.4 |
| Once a week |
371 |
7.6 |
354 |
7.5 |
| Once every few weeks |
221 |
4.5 |
207 |
4.4 |
| Less often |
60 |
1.2 |
70 |
1.5 |
| No care given |
3282 |
67.3 |
3402 |
72.3 |
| How much time do you spend providing care |
|
|
|
|
| All day and night |
157 |
3.2 |
88 |
1.9 |
| All day |
108 |
2.2 |
81 |
1.7 |
| All night |
9 |
0.2 |
7 |
0.1 |
| Several hours |
906 |
18.6 |
783 |
16.7 |
| About an hour |
403 |
8.3 |
340 |
7.2 |
| No care given |
3282 |
67.5 |
3402 |
72.4 |
| Do you regularly provide unpaid care for grandchildren or other people's children |
|
|
|
|
| Daily |
199 |
4.1 |
159 |
3.4 |
| Weekly |
612 |
12.5 |
622 |
13.2 |
| Occasionally |
1502 |
30.8 |
1277 |
27.2 |
| Never |
2569 |
52.6 |
2645 |
56.2 |
All associations were statistically significant (p = <.0001)
Mental and physical health
There is an association between source of retirement income and women's health, with women who expect to be reliant on government funding reporting poorer mental and physical health than those who have access to other resources. The mean mental health score of women expecting to be, or currently, dependent on government provision was 51.1, compared to 52.6 for those who expect to be reliant on other sources. The physical health scores were 45.3 for women dependent on government provision compared to 49 for women with other sources of income.