Written by: Lynneah Ciera Brown and Alexander Lundrigan, Young Invincibles

When most people think of Social Security, they think of retirees, not young adults. However, most young adult workers are paying into Social Security right now, which means they have a vested interest in the program. While many young adults today do not feel financially stable to save for retirement, Social Security was designed to make sure they have funds for retirement. 

Introduction

Social Security was established in 1935 to promote economic security for Americans and is essential to providing earned benefits for retired workers (e.g., 67 is the full retirement age for those born after 1960). Social Security is designed to pay retired workers a lifetime sustainable income after retirement, as well as offer financial assistance to families of a deceased worker, disabled workers and their families, beneficiaries who need health insurance (e.g., Medicare), and individuals with limited income ages 65 or older, blind or disabled, and children with disabilities (e.g., Supplemental Security Income). The funding for the Social Security program comes primarily from payroll taxes on current workers. Unfortunately, the benefits being paid out by the program currently exceed the amount of funds being put in from current workers. Without action from Congress, Social Security will be unable to pay 100% of promised benefits in a decade. As a result, many Americans are unsure that when they retire, there will be adequate funding available to provide them with enough income after retirement.   

The uncertainty of whether Americans will be financially secure once they retire is concerning, especially for young adults who are currently contributing to Social Security and are unsure if they will be able to count on the program for their own retirement benefits. By 2034, some estimate that both retirees and current workers will receive only a reduced benefit of roughly 77% of their promised benefit. After 2034, Social Security will be able to pay approximately this level of reduced benefits until 2097. As such, legislative action is necessary to shore up Social Security’s long-term finances. 

Young Invincibles (YI) believes one way to get legislators to take action is to provide data on the importance and relevance of the Social Security program for current workers, especially those who are younger. As such, we have conducted a pilot study that provides data on a subset of young adults regarding the importance of Social Security, as well as their understanding and willingness to learn more about the program. YI hopes this and future efforts will shine a light on the important issue of addressing Social Security solvency. YI will continue to educate young adults about the Social Security program and ensure their voices are amplified to lawmakers regarding the importance of the program. 

Our findings

YI surveyed 198 respondents in various states within the United States from ages 18 to 45 to learn more about young adults’ perspective on the importance of Social Security and knowledge of the current program. From the survey results, we learn that young adults are expecting to rely heavily on Social Security after retirement, and they are interested to learn more about the program and how to protect it. Here are some of the findings from the survey: 

• Four out of five respondents expect to rely on Social Security once they retire.
• Only 37% understand the meaning of “exhaustion” of the Social Security Trust Fund.  
• Eighty-three percent indicate that they want to know more about Social Security for the sake of their own retirement planning. 
• More than 60% of respondents want to better understand how they can help their own loved ones take advantage of the program’s current benefits.
• Ninety-two percent of respondents want to know more about how they can help preserve Social Security at a level of public policy. 

From this pilot study, we obtain a snapshot of young adults’ knowledge and interest, as well as how important they feel Social Security will be to them once they retire. It is evident from the findings that young adults know Social Security is important to them as they expect to rely on Social Security once they retire. At the same time, there was an overwhelming percentage of young adults that want to learn more about the Social Security program. The need for young adults to become more educated about the program is pivotal because it provides them with another important tool towards their financial health. 

Young adults also expressed a desire to help preserve Social Security for current and future retirees. Young adult voices will be pivotal to amplifying the need to save Social Security and to continue to provide full benefits for all Americans. Advocacy organizations like YI can bring young adults into the fight to save Social Security, but need to make sure that young adults receive the following:

• Knowledge to understand the components of the Social Security program (e.g., why was it enacted and how does it work); 
• Deeper understanding of the pros and cons of reforms to the program as a current worker and retiree; and 
• The current state of Social Security and the future of the program. 

Policy Implications

• Organizations should conduct more outreach to young adults about Social Security and its importance. We know there are young adults who want to learn more about Social Security and its importance based on this pilot study. Additional outreach can be in the form of communicating on platforms that young adults frequent, trust, and feel their voices and perspectives are heard, such as various social media platforms. Outside of platforms, outreach can be conducted at college campuses, local neighborhood(s), and personal or professional organization(s). 
• Legislators should ensure young adults benefit from Social Security policies. Current young adults are contributing to Social Security via the payroll tax but remain uncertain about collecting benefits when they retire. YI believes there needs to be more progressive policies to make sure that young adults will not solely have to rely on their own savings in retirement, or worse yet, not be able to retire at all. 
• Legislative intervention. Without legislative action, the Social Security program will face an across-the-board cut of at least 20% for all current and future retirees starting in 2034. Congress needs to take action before then to make sure this doesn’t happen. An example of a legislative action could be to increase taxes for citizens that make higher incomes to assist with the solvency of Social Security. A bill introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders provides some additional context of what an example intervention might look like. 

Acknowledgements

• Matthew Eckel, former director of policy research, Young Invincibles
• Blake Kelly, federal strategy director, AARP
• Tom Nicholls, government affairs director financial security, AARP
• Rebecca Perron, senior research advisor, AARP