Skip to content

Industry News

Print

CRR Releases Brief on the Financial Outlook of Social Security in 2022

On June 21, 2022, the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College released its issue brief, Social Security’s Financial Outlook: The 2022 Update in Perspective. As presented in the issue brief, CRR analyzed the 75-year deficit in Social Security benefits projected in the recently released 2022 Social Security Board of Trustees Report.

The key findings include:

  • The 2022 Trustees Report indicated that the 75-year deficit decreased from 3.54% to 3.42% of taxable payrolls, and the trust fund’s depletion date moved back one year from 2034 to 2035;
  • A lower assumed disability incidence rate allows the disability insurance (DI) trust fund to pay full benefits for the next 75 years; and
  • Notably, the Social Security program’s cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) help to protect retirees against rising prices especially during the current high rates of inflation.

The brief concludes, “Social Security is facing a long-term financing shortfall that equals 1 percent of GDP. The changes required to fix the system are well within the bounds of fluctuations in spending on other pro­grams in the past. Moreover, action needs to be taken before the trust fund is depleted in 2035 to avoid a precipitous cut in benefits.”

The brief is available here.