During the May conference of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives ("NOSSCR") in Washington D.C., I had the opportunity to listen to several government analysts and Social Security Disability Lawyers discuss the impact that the passage of immigration reform will have on the Social Security Trust Fund. Back then, most experts were of the opinion that immigration reform would be beneficial for Social Security. However, most of the studies conducted on this issue were not yet widely available to the general public and the media.
Just about a week ago, the independent Social Security Office of the Chief Actuary provided a long-term analysis of the proposed immigration reform bill that demonstrates that immigration reform will bolster the solvency of Social Security over the long-term. This report follows another recent report generated by the nonpartisan Budget Office which shows the positive impact that immigration reform will have on the general budget. Almost immediately after these reports were published, the White House issued a statement emphasizing the importance of its findings. The White House said: "The Actuary found that the Senate-passed immigration reform bill will keep the Social Security Trust fund fully solvent through 2035."
The main reason why immigration reform will help Social Security is that a new wave of citizens will balance out the "aging population problem". As I stated in prior blogs, the greatest problem faced by Social Security is that the population of the U.S. is reaching advanced age at a disproportionate rate. "Never before in history has the U.S. contained so many older people. Today, one out of every 9 Americans is "old"." See Blog from Oct. 22, 2012 Statistically, the immigrants that will be allowed into the country as a result of immigration reform are significantly younger than the rest of the population. In this respect the White House stated that: "Because most immigrants are young, additional immigration helps balance out the increase in retirees-per-worker that will occur when the Baby Boom generation retires." Moreover, it also pointed out that the new immigrants will bolster the Social Security Fund when currently undocumented workers start paying their share of payroll taxes once they leave the underground economy.
