This section presents detailed information on the operations of the OASI and DI Trust Funds1 during calendar year 2021. Chapter IV provides projections for calendar years 2022 through 2100.Table III.A1 presents a statement of the income and cost of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund in calendar year 2021, and of the asset reserves in the fund at the beginning and end of the calendar year. As shown in this table, total trust fund income in 2021 amounted to $942.9 billion, while cost totaled $1,001.9 billion, a decrease in trust fund reserves during 2021 of $59.1 billion.2Income to the OASI Trust Fund based on the taxation of OASI benefits amounted to $37.2 billion in 2021. As first required by the 1983 Social Security Amendments, this income comes from two separate sources: (1) Federal income taxation on up to 50 percent of an individual’s or couple’s OASI benefits under certain circumstances, and (2) a tax withheld from the benefits paid to certain nonresident alien beneficiaries. For the direct Federal income tax portion, Treasury transfers estimated amounts to the OASI Trust Fund in advance at the beginning of each calendar quarter. Treasury makes subsequent adjustments based on the actual amounts shown on annual income tax records. There were two such adjustments made in 2021 totaling $5.1 billion. The amount of income from direct Federal income taxation on OASI benefits constituted approximately 99 percent of income from benefit taxation. The remaining one percent of the income from benefit taxation is the amounts withheld from the benefits paid to nonresident aliens.In 2021, the OASI Trust Fund earned $67.5 billion in net interest, which consisted of: (1) interest earned on the investments held by the trust fund, (2) interest on adjustments in the allocation of administrative expenses between the trust fund and the General Fund account for the Supplemental Security Income program, (3) interest arising from the revised allocation of administrative expenses among the trust funds, and (4) interest on certain reimbursements to the trust fund.
Table III.A1.—Operations of the OASI Trust Fund, Calendar Year 2021 Total asset reserves, December 31, 2020a Payroll tax contributionsb Interest adjustmentsd Financial interchange with the Railroad Retirement “Social Security Equivalent Benefit Account” Miscellaneous reimbursements from the General Fund f
Of the $1,001.9 billion in total OASI cost in 2020, $993.1 billion was for net benefit payments, including recovered overpayments,3 reimbursements from the General Fund for unnegotiated checks, and the reimbursable costs of vocational rehabilitation services.4 Net benefit payments increased by 4.3 percent from calendar year 2020 to calendar year 2021. This increase is due primarily to: (1) an increase in the average number of beneficiaries during the year and (2) an increase in the average monthly benefit amount. The increase in the average benefit amount in 2021 was due in part to the automatic cost-of-living benefit increase of 1.3 percent which became effective for December 2020 under the automatic-adjustment provisions in section 215(i) of the Social Security Act. In addition, new beneficiaries tend to have higher monthly benefit amounts than previous beneficiary cohorts, because their initial benefits are based on average wages, which tend to rise faster than the cost of living.The Railroad Retirement Act requires an annual financial interchange between the Railroad Retirement program and the OASDI program. The purpose of the interchange is to put the OASI and DI Trust Funds in the same financial position in which they would have been had railroad employment always been covered directly by Social Security. The Railroad Retirement Board and the Social Security Administration calculated an interchange of $4.8 billion from the OASI Trust Fund to the Social Security Equivalent Benefit Account for June 2021.The asset reserves shown for the OASI Trust Fund at the end of calendar year 2021 totaled $2,752.6 billion, consisting of $2,752.7 billion in U.S. Government obligations and, as an offset, an extension of credit totaling $53 million against securities to be redeemed in the first few days of the following year. The effective annual rate of interest earned by the reserves in the OASI Trust Fund during calendar year 2021 was 2.4 percent, somewhat lower than the 2.6 percent earned during calendar year 2020. Table VI.A4, presented in appendix A, shows a detailed listing of OASI Trust Fund holdings by type of security, interest rate, and year of maturity at the end of calendar years 2020 and 2021.Section 201(d) of the Social Security Act provides that the obligations issued for purchase by the OASI and DI Trust Funds shall have maturities fixed with due regard for the needs of the funds. The usual practice has been to reinvest the maturing special issue securities, as of each June 30, so that the value of the total portfolio of special issue securities maturing in each of the next 15 years are approximately equal. However, as of June 2021, the Chief Actuary’s updated baseline of November 2020, which modified the Trustees most recent projections in the 2020 Trustees Report5, indicated that the reserves in the OASI Trust Fund would become depleted within 15 years. Therefore, the Department of the Treasury, in consultation with the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration, selected the amounts and maturity dates of the OASI special-issue bonds purchased on June 30, 2021, so that the maturity dates of the total portfolio of special issue securities would be spread evenly to the extent possible over the 12‑year period 2022 through 2033. The bonds purchased on that date have an interest rate of 1.500 percent, reflecting the average market yield, as of the last business day of the prior month, on all of the outstanding marketable U.S. obligations that are due or callable more than 4 years in the future. Table III.A7 shows additional details on the investment transactions during 2021, including the amounts of bonds purchased on June 30, 2021.Table III.A2 presents a statement of the income and cost of the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund in calendar year 2021, and of the asset reserves in the fund at the beginning and end of the calendar year.Of the $142.6 billion of total cost, $140.1 billion was net benefit payments.6 The total level of net benefit payments in 2021 decreased by 2.4 percent from total net benefit payments paid in 2020, largely due to a decrease in the total amount of retroactive payments paid to newly awarded beneficiaries, as well as a decrease in the average number of total current beneficiaries, partially offset by an increase in average benefit levels. DI non-interest income, and total income, exceeded total cost in 2021.
Table III.A2.—Operations of the DI Trust Fund, Calendar Year 2021 Total asset reserves, December 31, 2020a Payroll tax contributionsb Interest adjustments d Miscellaneous reimbursements from the General Fund f Undisbursed balancesg
During 2021, the reserves in the DI Trust Fund increased by $2.8 billion, from $96.6 billion at the end of 2020 to $99.4 billion at the end of 2021. This $99.4 billion consisted of $99.4 billion in U.S. Government obligations and, as an offset, an extension of credit totaling $44 million against securities to be redeemed in the first few days of the following year.7 The effective annual rate of interest earned by the asset reserves in the DI Trust Fund during calendar year 2021 was 2.8 percent, slightly lower than the 2.9 percent earned during calendar year 2020. Table VI.A5 shows a detailed listing of DI Trust Fund holdings by type of security, interest rate, and year of maturity at the end of calendar years 2020 and 2021.Section 201(d) of the Social Security Act provides that the Treasury securities issued for purchase by the OASI and DI Trust Funds shall have maturities fixed with due regard for the needs of the funds. Each year, bond purchases for each trust fund are made on June 30, taking into account the projected reserve depletion date in the most recently issued Trustees Report. The usual practice has been to reinvest the maturing special issue securities, as of each June 30, so that the values of the securities maturing in each of the next 15 years are approximately equal. Accordingly, the Department of the Treasury, in consultation with the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration, selected the amounts and maturity dates of the DI special-issue bonds purchased on June 30, 2021, so that the maturity dates of the total portfolio of special issue securities would be evenly spread to the extent possible over the 15‑year period 2022-36. The bonds purchased have an interest rate of 1.500 percent, reflecting the average market yield, as of the last business day of the prior month, on the outstanding marketable U.S. obligations that are due or callable more than 4 years in the future. Table III.A7 shows details on investment transactions during 2021.Table III.A3 presents a statement of the operations of the OASI and DI Trust Funds on a hypothetical combined basis.8 The entries in this table represent the sums of the corresponding values from tables III.A1 and III.A2. The two preceding subsections that cover OASI and DI provide a description of the nature of these income and cost transactions.
Total asset reserves, December 31, 2020a Payroll tax contributionsb Interest adjustments d Miscellaneous reimbursements from the General Fund f Undisbursed balancesg
Table III.A4 compares estimates of total income and total cost for calendar year 2021 from the intermediate projections in the 2017 through 2021 Trustees Reports to the corresponding actual amounts for 2021.
Table III.A4.—Comparison of Actual Calendar Year 2021 Trust Fund Operations
With Estimates Made in Prior Reports, Based on Intermediate Assumptions a Total income b Total cost c
“Actual” income for 2021 reflects adjustments to payroll tax contributions for prior calendar years (see appendix A for description of these adjustments). “Estimated” income also includes such adjustments, but on an estimated basis.
At the end of calendar year 2021, the OASDI program was providing monthly benefits to about 65.2 million people. The OASI Trust Fund was providing benefits to about 56.0 million people and the DI Trust Fund was providing benefits to about 9.2 million people. The number of people receiving benefits from the OASI Trust Fund grew by 1.4 percent while the number of people receiving DI benefits fell by 4.2 percent during calendar year 2021. These changes are in large part due to the gradual aging of the population, with the earliest cohorts of the baby-boom generation now moving above normal retirement age, where DI benefits are no longer applicable. Table III.A5 shows the estimated distributions of benefit payments in calendar years 2020 and 2021, by type of beneficiary, for each trust fund separately.
Table III.A5.—Distribution of Benefit Paymentsa by Type of Beneficiary or Payment, Calendar Years 2020 and 2021
Net administrative expenses of the OASI and DI Trust Funds in calendar year 2021 totaled $6.5 billion, equal to 0.6 percent each of total cost and total income. Table III.A6 shows corresponding percentages for each trust fund separately and for OASDI as a whole for the last 5 years.
The acquisition and redemption of securities during calendar year 2021 changed the invested reserves of the OASI and DI Trust Funds. Table III.A7 presents investment transactions for each fund separately and combined.
Table III.A7.—Trust Fund Investment Transactions, Calendar Year 2021 Bonds b Certificates of indebtednessc
Invested asset reserves differ from total asset reserves by the amount of undisbursed balances. See tables VI.A4 and VI.A5 for details.
As noted in footnote a of table III.A1 and elsewhere in this report, benefit payments shown for 2021 reflect the 12 months of benefits scheduled for payment in 2021 and thus include the benefits scheduled for payment on January 3, 2021, which were actually paid on December 31, 2020, as required by the law.
This updated baseline reflects the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recession on the intermediate projections of the 2020 Social Security Trustees Report. For more information on this updated baseline, see https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/solvency/UpdatedBaseline_20201124.pdf.
As noted in footnote a of table III.A2 and elsewhere in this report, benefit payments shown for 2021 reflect the 12 months of benefits scheduled for payment in 2021 and thus include the benefits scheduled for payment on January 3, 2021, which were actually paid on December 31, 2020, as required by the law.
As noted in footnote a of table III.A2 and elsewhere in this report, benefit payments and asset reserves shown for 2021 reflect the 12 months of benefits scheduled for payment in 2021 and thus include the benefits scheduled for payment on January 3, 2021, which were actually paid on December 31, 2020, as required by the law.
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