This Reuters column covers our report in the context of the recent calls to expand Social Security benefits.
Social Security Administration data shows that 3.2 million children received Social Security benefits directly in 2014, usually as the surviving dependent of a deceased parent or guardian (43 percent) or a disabled worker (42 percent). The remaining 15 percent were children of retirees.
But the CGPS study went further, using additional federal data sources to measure the number of children who live in extended families that receive Social Security. That wider lens reveals the aforementioned figure – 6.4 million children.
The study underscores Social Security’s importance in fighting poverty rates, especially in households of color. These rates are far too high already, and would soar to stunning levels in the absence of Social Security benefits. CGPS found that 40 percent of African-American children live in poverty – a figure that would jump to 58 percent without Social Security. In Latino households, 28 percent of children live in poverty; the figure would be 45 percent absent Social Security.
