9 Facts About Social Security, a recent blog post by Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Jeff Zients, Director of the National Economic Council, identifies nine important accomplishments for our aging society and for persons with disabilities.
- Social Security forms the foundation for retirement security through universal, guaranteed benefits.
- Social Security Disability Insurance helps protect 150 million American workers against a catastrophic loss of income due to disability
- Social Security provides survivors insurance, helping to ensure financial security for a worker’s family in the event of an untimely death.
- Social Security lifts millions of Americans 65 and older out of poverty and dramatically reduces the poverty rate.
- For more than 60 percent of beneficiaries 55 and older Social Security represents the primary source of income.
- Social Security provides greater protection for the most vulnerable workers.
- Social Security is especially important for populations with lower lifetime earnings and lower rates of pension coverage, including minorities.
- Social Security is also particularly important for women due to the combination of lower lifetime earnings, longer life expectancies, and higher probabilities of living into their 80s and 90s.
- The shift from traditional pensions to 401(k)s and other defined contribution retirement plans has increased the importance of the guaranteed benefits provided by Social Security.
Once again we celebrate Social Security and all those working to keep it strong.