{"id":68021,"date":"2016-09-21T06:45:58","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T10:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=68021"},"modified":"2016-09-21T07:56:15","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T11:56:15","slug":"social-securitys-finances-follow-up-on-a-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=68021","title":{"rendered":"Social Security’s Finances: Follow Up on a Question"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, I wrote an article discussing Social Security and its finances<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 In the comments, one of TAH\u2019s regular readers (ex-OS2) asked two questions \u2013 one of which stumped me royally.<\/p>\n

So I got curious, and decided to poke around a bit and see if I could find an answer.<\/p>\n

While I didn\u2019t find the precise answer, I did find the answer to a couple of similar and related questions.\u00a0 And the questions seemed to be ones that might be of general interest, so I decided to post the answers here.<\/p>\n

The question I couldn\u2019t answer was, \u201cWhat fraction of Disability payments are made to those who never contributed?\u201d\u00a0 That in turn raises a bigger question:\u00a0 \u201cWhat fraction of Social Security recipients overall (Disability, Old Age, Survivors) fall into the \u2018never contributed\u2019 category?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s indeed possible.\u00a0 Social Security pays benefits to spouses, survivors, and dependents under many circumstances.\u00a0 Sometimes those beneficiaries in fact never have paid FICA taxes themselves.\u00a0 But they still qualify based on the worker\u2019s earnings history.<\/p>\n

As I surmised might be the case, Social Security doesn\u2019t make it particularly easy to find this information, and I can\u2019t say with that I found the precise answer to either the question concerning disability or the larger question for Social Security overall.\u00a0 But I do think I found enough information to answer a closely-related question:\u00a0 \u201cHow many people are receiving benefits based on someone else\u2019s earnings history<\/u>, and how much do those benefits total?\u201d<\/p>\n

It turns out that Social Security does publish one report monthly that gives useable data here:\u00a0 their monthly \u201csnapshot\u201d report.\u00a0 The latest one I could find was for July 2016.\u00a0 Apparently it takes a bit of time to get the necessary data, because August\u2019s report doesn\u2019t yet seem ready.<\/p>\n

Here are the pertinent numbers in table form.\u00a0 The snapshot for July 2016 can be downloaded, in PDF format, here<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
July 2016 \u2013 Social Security Benefits Paid, Summary <\/u><\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0Number of Beneficiaries (x 1,000)<\/strong><\/td>\nPercent of Beneficiaries<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0Benefits Paid (x $1M)<\/strong><\/td>\nPercent of Benefits Paid<\/strong><\/td>\nAverage Monthly Benefit<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grand Total<\/td>\n60,505<\/td>\n100.0%<\/td>\n$74,854<\/td>\n100.0%<\/td>\n$1,237<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Old Age\/Survivors – Total<\/td>\n49,841<\/td>\n82.4%<\/td>\n$63,890<\/td>\n85.4%<\/td>\n$1,282<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Retirement Benefits – Total<\/td>\n43,831<\/td>\n72.4%<\/td>\n$57,167<\/td>\n76.4%<\/td>\n$1,304<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Paid to<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Retired Workers<\/td>\n40,817<\/td>\n67.5%<\/td>\n$55,086<\/td>\n73.6%<\/td>\n$1,350<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spouses of Retired Workers<\/td>\n2,369<\/td>\n3.9%<\/td>\n$1,660<\/td>\n2.2%<\/td>\n$701<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Children of Retired Workers<\/td>\n645<\/td>\n1.1%<\/td>\n$421<\/td>\n0.6%<\/td>\n$652<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Survivor Benefits – Total<\/td>\n6,010<\/td>\n9.9%<\/td>\n$6,722<\/td>\n9.0%<\/td>\n$1,119<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Paid to<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Children of deceased workers<\/td>\n1,852<\/td>\n3.1%<\/td>\n$1,542<\/td>\n2.1%<\/td>\n$833<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Widowed mothers\/fathers<\/td>\n134<\/td>\n0.2%<\/td>\n$126<\/td>\n0.2%<\/td>\n$943<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nondisabled\u00a0widow(er)s<\/td>\n3,763<\/td>\n6.2%<\/td>\n$4,866<\/td>\n6.5%<\/td>\n$1,293<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Disabled\u00a0widow(er)s<\/td>\n260<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n$186<\/td>\n0.2%<\/td>\n$717<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parents of deceased workers<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n<0.002%<\/td>\n$1<\/td>\n0.0%<\/td>\n$1,142<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Disability Benefits – Total<\/td>\n10,664<\/td>\n17.6%<\/td>\n$10,965<\/td>\n14.6%<\/td>\n$1,028<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Paid to<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Disabled workers<\/td>\n8,861<\/td>\n14.6%<\/td>\n$10,335<\/td>\n13.8%<\/td>\n$1,166<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spouses of deceased workers<\/td>\n138<\/td>\n0.2%<\/td>\n$44<\/td>\n0.1%<\/td>\n$323<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Children of deceased workers<\/td>\n1,666<\/td>\n2.8%<\/td>\n$585<\/td>\n0.8%<\/td>\n$351<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

In looking at the table above, it\u2019s pretty apparent that some of those individuals receiving benefits are receiving those benefits based on another individual’s Social Security record.\u00a0 For disability, that is benefits paid to spouses and children.\u00a0 For Old age And Survivors, that would be those benefits paid to spouses and children of retired workers.\u00a0 By definition, it also includes all forms of survivor\u2019s benefits that Social Security pays regarding deceased retirees.\u00a0 All of these categories of persons are eligible to receive benefits from Social Security based on the worker\u2019s earnings history under the proper circumstances.<\/p>\n

Doing the math, I came up with an approximate answer to the question for disability.\u00a0 Social Security paid disability benefits to roughly 10,664,000 persons in July 2016.\u00a0 Of those, 1,804,000 \u2013 or a bit more than 1 in 6 – were NOT disabled workers; the vast majority of that number (1,666,000) were children.\u00a0 It’s a virtual certainly that they never paid a dime in FICA taxes.\u00a0 The remaining 138,000 were disability benefits paid by Social Security to selected spouses of disabled workers; these are paid based on the worker\u2019s qualification to receive disability benefits, and thus were due to the disabled worker\u2019s earnings record.\u00a0 However, it\u2019s possible that some of these spouses indeed worked and paid FICA taxes at some point in their lives \u2013 so I can\u2019t say with certainty that they \u201cnever paid into\u201d Social Security.<\/p>\n

In dollar terms, these disability payments to spouses and children appear quite modest.\u00a0 They represent only about 5.7% of Social Security\u2019s total disability outlays.<\/p>\n

The situation is somewhat different for Social Security retirement and survivor benefits.\u00a0 These payments are both more numerous and proportionally more costly than payments made to children and spouses of disabled workers.<\/p>\n

Spouses and children of retired workers receiving benefits from Social Security on the basis of the retired workers earnings histories totaled 3,041,000; benefits were also paid to 6,010,000 survivors of deceased workers.\u00a0 The total of these categories \u2013 9,024,000 \u2013 represents 20.6% of those receiving Old Age and Survivor\u2019s benefits from Social Security \u2013 or just over 1 in 5.\u00a0 These payments constitute approximately 15.4% of all Social Security Old Age and Survivors benefits paid.<\/p>\n

Summing both categories (Disability and Old Age\/Survivors), it turns out that a bit less than 18% (17.9%) of those receiving benefits from Social Security are receiving benefits on the basis of another individual’s work history.\u00a0 Those benefits represent 12.6% of all Social Security benefits paid.<\/p>\n

A caveat:\u00a0 many of these spouses receiving benefits on the basis of a spousal work history indeed may have paid FICA taxes themselves.\u00a0 A person can qualify for Social Security based on both their own work history and that of their spouse.\u00a0 They\u2019re allowed to choose to receive whichever benefit that is more advantageous financially.\u00a0 So in many cases, the individuals would be entitled to a benefit \u2013 but a smaller one \u2013 based on their own work history.<\/p>\n

I hope someone besides me finds this information interesting or of use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, I wrote an article discussing Social Security and its finances.\u00a0 In the … Social Security’s Finances: Follow Up on a Question<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[220,213,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-floggings-will-continue-until-morale-improves","category-your-tax-dollars-at-work","category-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}