As we celebrate Social Security’s 90th anniversary, I have a confession: growing up, I never believed the program would be there for me when I retired. Honestly, I didn’t know much about Social Security until college. My opinions came from overhearing my parents talk about its supposedly dwindling returns. Like many in Gen Z, I thought of Social Security as a distant, unreliable promise.
I was wrong.
Social Security is a social insurance program that provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to workers and their families. Embedded in the nation’s economic and social structure, Social Security has never missed a payment since its inception.
Social Security is the bedrock of retirement security, but it goes much further than that. Workers who are disabled can apply for disability insurance, and their family can also receive benefits. Survivor benefits are a lifeline for children of deceased workers.
To many people’s surprise, Social Security is one of the nation’s largest programs benefiting children. Around 9 percent of all children in the United States — 6.2 million — received income from Social Security in 2023. This figure also includes children who received benefits as dependents of retired disabled, or deceased workers, and those who lived with parents or guardians who received Social Security. In 2023, 959,000 children were lifted out of poverty due to Social Security.
Many people believe that Social Security will not be able to pay out benefits in the future. In reality, Social Security’s trust fund, built up to pre-fund part of the retirement of the large Baby Boomer generation, is currently projected to run dry in 2034.
This does not mean that Social Security will vanish. Social Security is funded by beneficiaries through payroll contributions, also known as FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act), which taxes wages — that is, the money a worker receives in their paycheck. As long as there are people paying into Social Security, there will be people receiving benefits. Under the current projections, Social Security will pay out 81 percent of benefits in 2034. This projection is only if Congress does not act, which is highly unlikely due to the popularity of the program.
According to polling from the National Academy of Social Insurance, 73 percent of Americans aged 21 to 24 say that Social Security will be important or very important to their monthly income when they retire. Eighty-one percent of Americans aged 21-34 want Congress to bring more money into Social Security, rather than cutting benefits. The package they support includes raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans (who currently stop paying into Social Security after their first $176,100 in income) as well as gradually increasing everyone’s contributions into Social Security.
Many of my Gen Z peers already benefit from Social Security. There is a one in four chance that a 20-year-old will become disabled before retirement age. Social Security Disability Insurance is a critical lifeline for those in their 20s and 30s who are disabled. Others in my generation received Social Security’s survivor benefits as children when their parents died or became disabled.
Social Security is even more important for my generation, which is facing crippling student debt and skyrocketing housing costs, than it is for older generations. Social Security provides stability and a guarantee as we approach retirement. Even if I am not able to save as much money throughout my working years as I hope, Social Security will be there for me as I age.
From working at the ice cream shop down the street to internships during college, I have already been paying into Social Security for over five years. Our generation is already funding the system, and our generation will be the one to shape reforms. Over the next decade, major changes will take place to ensure Social Security stays solvent. Justice across generations matters. We inherit this system, and it is our responsibility to sustain it.
Social Security was created 90 years ago in response to the deep inequality during the widespread economic hardship of the Great Depression. Today, the program needs to evolve to become more inclusive, reflect changes in the economy, and pay out full benefits for decades to come. Social Security’s future is in our hands. Let's show up for it, just as it shows up for us in our times of greatest need.
