{ "id": "R41479", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "R", "number": "R41479", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "Social Security: Revisiting Benefits for Spouses and Survivors", "retrieved": "2021-10-24T04:03:34.404671", "id": "R41479_19_2021-09-21", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2021-09-21_R41479_f22d44d9681826381ffd8f5773efa76825df3241.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R41479/19", "sha1": "f22d44d9681826381ffd8f5773efa76825df3241" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2021-09-21_R41479_f22d44d9681826381ffd8f5773efa76825df3241.html" } ], "date": "2021-09-21", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "R", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R41479", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 591032, "date": "2019-02-06", "retrieved": "2019-12-20T20:02:29.357979", "title": "Social Security: Revisiting Benefits for Spouses and Survivors", "summary": "Social Security auxiliary benefits are paid to the spouse, former spouse, survivor, child, or parent of a Social Security-covered worker and are equal to a specified percentage of the worker\u2019s basic monthly benefit amount (subject to a maximum family benefit amount). For example, the spouse of a retired worker may receive up to 50% of the retired worker\u2019s basic benefit and the widow(er) of a retired worker may receive up to 100% of the retired worker\u2019s basic benefit. \nWhen auxiliary benefits were first established, most households consisted of a single earner\u2014usually the husband\u2014and a wife who cared for children and remained out of the paid workforce. As a result, benefits for nonworking spouses were structured to be relatively generous. A woman who was never employed but is married to a man with high Social Security-covered wages may receive a Social Security spousal benefit that is higher than the retirement benefit received by a single woman, or a divorced woman who was married less than 10 years, who worked a full career in a low-wage job.\nIn recent decades, this household structure has changed in part because women have entered the workforce in increasing numbers. The labor force participation rate of women with children under the age of 18 increased from 47% in 1975 to 70.8% in March 2016. As a result, many women now qualify for Social Security benefits based on their own work records. Women are, however, more likely than men to take breaks in employment to care for family members, which can result in fewer years of contributions to Social Security and employer-sponsored pension plans.\nBeneficiaries who qualify for multiple benefits do not receive both benefits in full, however. For example, for a beneficiary eligible for his or her own retired-worker benefits as well as spousal benefits, the spousal benefit is reduced by the amount of the retired-worker benefit. The beneficiary receives a reduced spousal benefit (if not reduced to zero) in addition to his or her retired-worker benefit. This effectively means the beneficiary receives the higher of the two benefit amounts. Because of this, a two-earner household may receive lower total Social Security benefits than a single-earner household with identical total Social Security-covered earnings. \nAnother change since 1939 has been an increase in the number of men and women who remain single or who have divorced. Persons who have never been married, or divorced before 10 years of marriage, do not qualify for Social Security spousal or survivors benefits under current law.\nProposals to modify the Social Security auxiliary benefit structure are often motivated by desire to improve adequacy for certain beneficiaries, or equity between a two-earner household and a one-earner household with similar earning profiles. For example, some proposals address the adequacy of benefits for certain groups of beneficiaries, such as elderly and widowed women. Although Social Security plays an important role in the retirement security of aged women, about 13.9% of widowed women aged 65 or older, 15.8% of divorced elderly women, and 21.5% of never-married elderly women have family incomes below the official poverty line in 2017.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41479", "sha1": "9dd58a12f19d5f8169be00c92b77272757011d84", "filename": "files/20190206_R41479_9dd58a12f19d5f8169be00c92b77272757011d84.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41479_files&id=/2.png": "files/20190206_R41479_images_888db777ec8f09fabfe900a039e1f1be5cd23533.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41479_files&id=/1.png": "files/20190206_R41479_images_374d1fe9a6aeda1b59e8df0c8456aee604b92c86.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41479_files&id=/0.png": "files/20190206_R41479_images_3686df9e3d0b0892158e53f87e0405d064f3b106.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41479", "sha1": "907b639a8bd8cd70ad167ab86d7f74f3833df210", "filename": "files/20190206_R41479_907b639a8bd8cd70ad167ab86d7f74f3833df210.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4796, "name": "Social Security" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 580166, "date": "2017-09-18", "retrieved": "2018-05-10T12:32:19.269136", "title": "Social Security: Revisiting Benefits for Spouses and Survivors", "summary": "Social Security auxiliary benefits were established in 1939 when Congress extended benefits to the dependents and survivors of workers covered by Social Security. Since then, Social Security auxiliary benefits have been modified by Congress numerous times to change eligibility requirements for spouses, widows, children, and others and to expand eligibility for auxiliary benefits to new groups of beneficiaries, such as former spouses, husbands, and widowers.\nAuxiliary benefits are paid to the spouse, former spouse, survivor, child, or parent of a Social Security-covered worker and are equal to a specified percentage of the worker\u2019s basic monthly benefit amount (subject to a maximum family benefit amount). For example, the spouse of a retired worker may receive up to 50% of the retired worker\u2019s basic benefit and the widow(er) of a retired worker may receive up to 100% of the retired worker\u2019s basic benefit. \nWhen auxiliary benefits were first established, most households consisted of a single earner\u2014usually the husband\u2014and a wife who cared for children and remained out of the paid workforce. As a result, benefits for nonworking spouses were structured to be relatively generous. A woman who was never employed but is married to a man with high Social Security-covered wages may receive a Social Security spousal benefit that is higher than the retirement benefit received by a single woman, or a woman who was married less than 10 years, who worked a full career in a low-wage job.\nIn recent decades, this household structure has changed in part because women have entered the workforce in increasing numbers. The labor force participation rate of women with children under the age of 18 increased from 47% in 1975 to 70% in 2015. As a result, many women now qualify for Social Security benefits based on their own work records. Women are, however, more likely than men to take breaks in employment to care for family members, which can result in fewer years of contributions to Social Security and employer-sponsored pension plans.\nBeneficiaries who qualify for multiple benefits generally do not receive both benefits in full, however. For example, for a beneficiary eligible for his or her own retired-worker benefits and spousal benefits, the spousal benefit is reduced by the amount of the retired-worker benefit; this effectively means the beneficiary receives the higher of the two benefit amounts. Because of this, a two-earner household may receive lower total Social Security benefits than a single-earner household with identical total Social Security-covered earnings. \nAnother change since 1939 has been an increase in the number of men and women who remain single or who have divorced. Persons who have never married, or who were married for less than 10 years, do not qualify for Social Security spousal or survivor benefits under current law.\nProposals to modify the Social Security auxiliary benefit structure are generally motivated by desire to improve equity for families, or adequacy for certain beneficiaries, rather than by the financial status of the Social Security system. For example, some proposals address the adequacy of benefits for certain groups of beneficiaries, such as elderly and widowed women. Although Social Security plays an important role in the retirement security of aged women, about 18% of divorced women aged 65 or older and 16% of never-married women aged 65 or older have total incomes below the official poverty line.\nThis report describes the current-law structure of auxiliary benefits for spouses, divorced spouses, and surviving spouses. It also discusses some of the issues concerning the adequacy and equity of the current-law structure of auxiliary benefits, and presents some recent proposals.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41479", "sha1": "457531d9b6200b58a1f6d38f92b4253f0ecd6efe", "filename": "files/20170918_R41479_457531d9b6200b58a1f6d38f92b4253f0ecd6efe.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41479_files&id=/2.png": "files/20170918_R41479_images_81ac7e7311e6fc61492f57f775bb4d352131efde.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41479_files&id=/1.png": "files/20170918_R41479_images_552489f5bebd7d8b9ea313a075bf81a0951f59f9.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41479_files&id=/0.png": "files/20170918_R41479_images_0cedfba39380e98d3e9c9fd4c0f659c06669ba6f.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41479_files&id=/3.png": "files/20170918_R41479_images_5a3add212c9d654060a457e3c1ba96c886bf056b.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41479", "sha1": "fadcb69687281a41f6dbf054ddb47eeff81ffe72", "filename": "files/20170918_R41479_fadcb69687281a41f6dbf054ddb47eeff81ffe72.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4796, "name": "Social Security" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 396533, "date": "2012-01-10", "retrieved": "2016-04-07T00:20:07.009298", "title": "Social Security: Revisiting Benefits for Spouses and Survivors", "summary": "Social Security auxiliary benefits were established in 1939 when Congress extended benefits to the dependents and survivors of workers covered by Social Security. Since 1939, Social Security auxiliary benefits have been modified by Congress numerous times to change eligibility requirements for spouses, widows, children, and others and to expand eligibility for auxiliary benefits to new groups of beneficiaries, such as divorc\u00e9(e)s, husbands, and widowers.\nAuxiliary benefits are paid to the spouse, former spouse, survivor, child, or parent of a Social Security-covered worker and are equal to a specified percentage of the worker\u2019s basic monthly benefit amount (subject to a maximum family benefit amount). For example, the spouse of a retired worker may receive up to 50% of the retired worker\u2019s basic benefit and the widow(er) of a retired worker may receive up to 100% of the retired worker\u2019s basic benefit.\nWhen auxiliary benefits were first established, most households consisted of a single earner\u2014usually the husband\u2014and a wife who cared for children and remained out of the paid workforce. As a result, benefits for non-working spouses were structured to be relatively generous. A woman who was never employed but is married to a man with high Social Security-covered wages may receive a Social Security spousal benefit that is higher than the retirement benefit received by a single woman, or a woman who was married less than 10 years, who worked a full career in a low-wage job.\nIn recent decades, this household structure has changed in part because women have entered the workforce in increasing numbers. The labor force participation rate of women with children under the age of 18 increased from 47% in 1975 to 71% in 2010. As a result, many women now qualify for Social Security benefits based on their own work records. In some cases, under the current benefit structure, a two-earner household may receive lower total Social Security benefits than a single-earner household with identical total Social Security-covered earnings. Women are, however, more likely than men to take breaks in employment to care for family members, which can result in fewer years of contributions to Social Security and employer-sponsored pension plans.\nAnother change since 1939 has been an increase in the number of men and women who remain single or who have divorced. Persons who have never married, or who were married for less than 10 years, do not qualify for Social Security spousal or survivor benefits under current law.\nProposals to modify the Social Security auxiliary benefit structure are generally motivated by desire to improve equity for families, or adequacy for certain beneficiaries, rather than by the financial status of the Social Security system. For example, some proposals address the adequacy of benefits for certain groups of beneficiaries such as elderly and widowed women. Although Social Security plays an important role in the retirement security of aged women, about 18% of divorced women beneficiaries and 16% of never-married women beneficiaries have total incomes below the official poverty line.\nThis report describes the current-law structure of auxiliary benefits for spouses, divorced spouses, and surviving spouses. It also discusses some of the issues concerning the adequacy and equity of the current-law structure of auxiliary benefits, and presents some recent proposals.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41479", "sha1": "19fd01af4d441307d5c589fd9c9ef850cf18e121", "filename": "files/20120110_R41479_19fd01af4d441307d5c589fd9c9ef850cf18e121.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41479", "sha1": "1d4d0161577d6918c03a0e4b8410953466038fe4", "filename": "files/20120110_R41479_1d4d0161577d6918c03a0e4b8410953466038fe4.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc822001/", "id": "R41479_2010Nov05", "date": "2010-11-05", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Social Security: Revisiting Benefits for Spouses and Survivors", "summary": "This report describes the current-law structure of auxiliary benefits for spouses, divorced spouses and surviving spouses. It also discusses some of the issues concerning the adequacy and equity of the current-law structure of auxiliary benefits, and presents some recent proposals.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20101105_R41479_6b78777037bcdc90f062743244ec9197ff7230e7.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20101105_R41479_6b78777037bcdc90f062743244ec9197ff7230e7.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Social services", "name": "Social services" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Social security", "name": "Social security" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Social security beneficiaries", "name": "Social security beneficiaries" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Domestic Social Policy", "Economic Policy", "Health Policy" ] }