The History Of Social Security
BOSTON (CBS) - Social Security has been around for 79 years.
The History Of Social Security
Nine out of ten individuals age 65 and older received benefits and last year 58 million Americans received $816 billion dollars in Social Security benefits.
The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt in 1935. This act created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income after they retired. The life expectancy of a 65-year-old then was about 10 years; today it's over 20 years.
Early on, benefits were only paid to the worker. In 1939, Congress added survivor benefits and benefits for the retiree's spouse and children. In 1956, disability benefits were added.
Another major change came about in 2000 with the Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act, which eliminated the earnings test for those beneficiaries at or above normal retirement age.
In the past, Social Security benefits had been conditional on the requirement that the beneficiary be substantially retired, meaning you could earn only a limited amount of money while receiving Social Security benefits. If you exceeded that amount, you would lose some of your future Social Security benefits.
This is no longer true for retirees who have reached their full retirement age, which for this year is 66. If you have retired early and are between the ages of 62 and 66, you could lose some of your future Social Security benefits if you go back to work and earn more than $15,480 this year.
Social Security benefits have had a cost of living adjustment since 1975. Only twice since then have we had a zero increase, 2010 and 2011. This year the adjustment was 1.5%.
By 2033, there will be almost twice as many older Americans as today -- from 43.4 million today to 75.7 million.
There are currently almost 3 workers for each Social Security beneficiary. By 2033, there will only be 2.1 workers for each beneficiary.
More: History of Automatic Cost-Of-Living Adjustments
Automatic benefit increases, also known as cost-of-living adjustments or COLAs, have been in effect since 1975.
