Senior report 2008 transcript

Tracy Greever Rice
Associate Director for the Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis
MU Extension

“The Missouri senior report is an annual report designed to support local policy makers and planning for their senior population. As the baby boomers age this will become more and more important to make policy based on fact and not just perception."

Peter Kinder
Missouri Lieutenant Governor

“It all focuses attention and helps us get toward the goal of providing better lives for Missouri seniors as we all move into that category, and helps us plan better for the major changes that an aging population is going to bring upon us."

Greever Rice continues...“We wanted to understand seniors’ contribution to their local economies so this year we’ve added an indicator that looks at that, and what we found is that seniors contributed about 17 percent to the state’s economy overall in terms of consumer expenditures. This is a higher percentage than they are of the overall population.”

"We also look to see if seniors are doing okay and we look at the rate of poverty for seniors and whether or not if they have access to affordability housing and day to day living cost.”

“Between 2005 and 2006 the percent of seniors relying on supplemental security income, a program for very low income seniors and persons with disabilities, dropped so seniors were doing better in 2006 than they were in 2005.”