Social Security recently released annual statistical data about the programs it offers and the people it serves. It is an interesting breakdown of who receives benefits and of recent trends of the programs. Here is a closer look at some of the data.
According to Social Security, just over 163 million Americans are covered for Social Security’s retirement and disability programs, which is a system that requires workers to pay into the program to be eligible for benefits. The average annual earnings of these workers is $43,789.
By the end of 2013 there were about 58 million people receiving old-age, disability or survivors benefits. The majority of these people, 40.8 million, received old-age monthly benefits and about 11 million were receiving disability benefits. Social Security paid out more than $812 billion to old-age, survivor and disability insurance recipients.
The average monthly benefit to retired workers was $1,294 and $1,146 to disabled workers.
A recent hot topic has been some claiming that the number of people collecting Social Security disability payments has skyrocketed over the years, but benefits paid to disabled workers, their spouses and children only increased by 2.4 percent from 2012 to 2013.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI), another program that pays benefits to disabled people who meet certain low income and asset requirements, paid out just shy of $54 million to recipients. The average monthly benefit paid to SSI recipients was about $510.
The Poverty Level
Another focus of Social Security’s annual statistics is to examine how many Americans are living below the poverty level. The poverty level as identified by Social Security is an individual earning below $11,731 a year, a couple earning below $14,095 a year and a family of four earning less than $23,836. It is estimated that close to 15 percent of the population is living at or below the poverty level.
To take a closer look at the examination of Social Security’s annual statistics click here.
