{"database": "openregs", "table": "crs_reports", "rows": [["R48897", "Lifetime Low Earners and Social Security: Analysis of Data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS)", "2026-04-06T04:00:00Z", "2026-04-07T16:30:29Z", "Active", "Reports", "Zhe Li", null, "For the purpose of Social Security, individuals with lifetime low earnings are commonly defined as those with low career-average covered earnings. Covered earnings include wages and self-employment income subject to the Social Security payroll tax and used in benefit calculations. Most jobs in the United States are covered by Social Security. In 2025, about 185 million people worked in covered employment, representing roughly 93% of workers in paid employment and self-employment.\nAmong lifetime low earners, some workers experienced prolonged periods of low earnings, while others had intermittent employment histories. This report examines the characteristics and covered earnings patterns of lifetime low earners born between 1940 and 1959, defined as individuals in the bottom 25% of the career-average earnings distribution (in 2020 dollars). Understanding their characteristics, earnings trajectories, and retirement income can help policymakers identify more targeted policy options and better assess how changes to Social Security may affect different subgroups within this population. The analysis is limited to the earnings covered by the Social Security program and draws on data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked to administrative records from the Social Security Administration (SSA).\nLifetime low earners differed substantially from other earners across a broad range of demographic, health, and employment characteristics. Low earners were more likely to be women, have lower educational attainment, identify as Black non-Hispanic or Hispanic, have more children, be foreign-born, and report health limitations or disabilities. They also accumulated significantly fewer years of covered earnings, with 9.7% having 35 or more years of earnings, compared with 83.0% of all other earners. Reflecting these disparities, lifetime low earners were more likely to experience poverty in older age: 17.8% had household income below the poverty threshold at ages 65-66, compared with 2.6% of all other earners.\nSocial Security is a major source of retirement income for lifetime low earners. Among low earners receiving household income from Social Security, 33.8% received more than half of their household income from Social Security at ages 65-66, a share that increased to 51.1% at ages 75-76. Dependence at very high levels was also common. About 11.1% of low earners relied on Social Security for 90% or more of household income at ages 65-66, with this percentage increasing to 27.0% at ages 75-76.\nLifetime low earners may qualify for Social Security benefits through their own earnings records (e.g., retired worker or disabled worker benefits), another individual\u2019s earnings record (e.g., spousal or survivor benefits), or both. To qualify for a retired-worker benefit, for example, an individual generally must accumulate sufficient number of years of Social Security-covered employment (work years) and have a specified level of earnings in each year. Those who do not meet eligibility requirements for any benefit type receive no Social Security benefits. As their work histories lengthen, low earners are increasingly likely to receive worker benefits based on their own earnings record and less likely to receive no benefits or to rely on spousal or survivor benefits. At ages 65-66, approximately 10.6% of low earners with between one and nine work years prior to age 62 received Social Security worker benefits (these individuals likely had additional earnings at age 62 or later), compared with 61.3% of those with 10-19 work years and more than 80% of those with 20 or more work years. In contrast, about 48.7% of low earners with fewer than 10 work years did not qualify for any Social Security benefits, compared with 27.4% of those with 10-19 work years and fewer than 14% of those with 20 or more work years. Reliance on spousal or survivor benefits declined markedly with work experience, from 40.7% among those with one to nine work years to 11.6% among those with 10-19 work years and fewer than 6% of those with 20 or more worker years.\nPolicy proposals to modify various aspects of the Social Security program may have important implications for lifetime low earners\u2019 benefits. Some proposals are explicitly designed to enhance benefits for low earners, while others, although not directly targeted at this group, may still affect their benefits. For example, redesigning elements of the special minimum benefit provision could increase Social Security benefits for some lifetime low earners. In contrast, increasing the number of computation years used in the benefit formula would incorporate additional years of low (or zero) earnings into benefit calculations, thereby disproportionately affecting individuals with low lifetime earnings. 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