After years of talking about America’s seniors as disproportionately poor, some commentators now characterize older Americans as better off than their younger counterparts.

True, older Americans have recovered faster from the recent recession than younger workers—fewer seniors work, so fewer were hit by unemployment and stagnant wages. But all is not rosy for seniors as a whole. While most are better off today than seniors were twenty years ago, many still live just above the poverty line, struggling to get by on dwindling savings while paying increasingly higher medical costs.

This AIR Whiteboard, narrated by Center on Aging director Marilyn Moon, presents an overview of the economic challenges seniors face today.