Characteristics of newly awarded recipients of the Social Security regular minimum benefit

The regular minimum Social Security benefit, which was eliminated for both current and future recipients under the Omnibus Budget Reconcilliation Act of 1981 (Public Law 97-35), was restored for current beneficiaries only under additional legislation at year end. Following passage of Public Law 97-35, a study was undertaken to examine a group of newly eligible beneficiaries who would formerly have received the minimum benefit but, under that law, would not. Although the persons sampled have since become eligible for the benefit under the subsequent legislation, they closely resemble other future beneficiaries who will not be eligible for it. This article, which reports the findings of the study, indicates that those who will be ineligible for the minimum benefit in the future are mainly housewives, who will usually be able to receive larger benefits as spouses, and persons with significant noncovered employment, who will still receive windfall benefits to some extent. The data tend to disprove the notion that those who will not receive the minimum benefit in the future are lifetime low-earners.