Social Security auxiliary benefits remain crucial in improving income security for surviving spouses and dependents, says a recently updated report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
“Social Security: Revisiting Benefits for Spouses and Survivors,” updated Sept. 21, 2021, says that auxiliary benefits are especially important for older women, as well as for young surviving spouses and children of deceased workers.
About Social Security Auxiliary Benefits
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’s basic monthly benefit amount (subject to a maximum family benefit amount).
Beneficiaries who qualify for multiple benefits do not receive both benefits in full. For example, if a beneficiary is eligible for his or her own retired-worker benefits as well as spousal benefits, the spousal benefit will be reduced by the amount of the retired-worker benefit.
Changing Times
When auxiliary benefits were first established, the report notes, most households consisted of a single earner—usually the husband—and a wife who cared for children and was not part of the paid workforce. Consequently, benefits for nonworking spouses were structured to be relatively generous. For instance, it was possible that a woman who was never employed but is married to a man with high Social Security–covered wages could receive a Social Security spousal benefit higher than the retirement benefit higher than that a single woman, or a divorced woman married less than 10 years and who worked a full career in a low-wage job, would receive.
But that has changed, notes the CRS. In 1975, 45.4% of women with children under the age of 18—less than half—were in the workforce; in 2019, 72.4% were. That means, of course, that many women now qualify for Social Security benefits based on their own work records. But there is an important caveat, the CRS adds: women are more likely than men to take breaks in employment to care for family members, which can spell fewer years of contributions to Social Security and employer-sponsored pension plans—and, therefore, lower retirement benefits.
Modification Proposals
The are proposals for modifying Social Security auxiliary benefits. The report says they are grounded in a desire to make sure that the benefits are adequate for certain beneficiaries, or to make them more equitable. “Some policymakers and researchers,” says the CRS, “have expressed concerns about the current structure of Social Security auxiliary benefits on both equity and adequacy grounds.”
Specifically, says the CRS, some proposals address the adequacy of benefits for elderly and widowed women. And it presents data to bolster the argument for such proposals: in 2019, family incomes were below the poverty line for 14.4% of widowed women age 65 or older, 15.8% of divorced elderly women and 16.9% of elderly women who never married.
Other proposals, the report says, seek to establish equity between two-earner households and one-earner households with similar earning profiles. It is possible under current circumstances, says the CRS, that a one-earner couple could receive higher retirement and survivors benefits than a two-earner couple with identical total household earnings. In addition, it notes, auxiliary benefits do not reach certain groups, such as people who divorced before they were married for 10 years or mothers who never married.
The report notes that there also have been some proposals to increase Social Security benefits to some—but not all—vulnerable groups.
| Proposal | Advantage | Disadvantage |
| Enhance the widow(er)’s benefit | Could provide income support to many elderly women and men | Would not help those who divorced before 10 years of marriage or who never married |
| Caregiver credit for workers who stay at home to care for young children | Would increase benefits for women who never married or who are divorced | Would not help those without children, whether married or unmarried |
The CRS adds that the discussion concerning auxiliary benefits may involve balancing benefit increases for spouses and survivors, divorced spouses, or people who have never married with other potential program changes to offset the higher program costs in light of the Social Security system’s projected long-range financial outlook. In a report it issued on Sept. 15, the CRS said that beginning this year, Social Security expenditures will exceed total revenues—and that trend will hold for the rest of the 21st Century.
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