Social Security Has an Immigration Problem — and It's Getting Worse | The Motley Fool

If the past dictates the future, between 80% and 90% of today’s U.S. workforce is going to be reliant, in some capacity, on Social Security income when they retire. This 80% to 90% range reflects the percentage of retirees leaning on Social Security as a “major” or “minor” source of income across 20 years of annual Gallup surveys.  Unfortunately, this program responsible for doling out millions of benefit checks each month isn’t on the soundest financial footing. A very big reason for that is America’s worsening immigration problem. Image source: Getty Images. Social Security is facing a greater than $20 trillion funding shortfall Since 1940, which is when the first retirement benefit checks were issued, the Social Security Board of Trustees has released a lengthy annual report that examines the short-term (10-year) and long-term (75-year) outlook for the program. It’s effectively an under-the-hood look at how much revenue Social Security is bringing in, where that money is being disbursed, and how financially sound the short-term and long-term future of the program is, based on a variety of macroeconomic factors and demographic changes. For each of the past 38 years, the Social Security Board of Trustees Report has estimated that there
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