Industry News

On May 22, 2020, the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA) released its brief, An Actuarial Perspective on the 2020 Social Security Trustees Report.  The brief was developed by the AAA’s Social Security Committee and presents the Committee’s perspective regarding the 2020 Trustees Report, which examines the Social Security program’s long-term solvency issues.  In addition, it recommends that Congress should act to ensure the sustainable solvency of the program.  Importantly, the report does not reflect the recent impact of COVID-19, which is expected to result in lower tax income to Social Security.  

The Trustees Report provides separate solvency measures and tests in the short-range (2020-2029) and long-range (2020-2094) time periods.  According to the report, “The combined Social Security trust fund reserves are projected to become depleted during 2035, the same year as projected in last year’s report.  If changes to the program are not implemented before 2035, only 79 percent of scheduled benefits would be payable in 2035, declining to 73 percent by 2094.  The actuarial deficit increased from 2.78% of taxable payroll to 3.21% of taxable payroll.”

The brief is available here.