Understanding Social Security: Who are the ‘Never Beneficiaries’?

Month after month, the Administration of the Social Security (SSA) sends different payments: benefits for retired workers, survivor benefits, as well as disability benefits. Among the latter are Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

Each month, more than 70 million seniors receive some type of benefit; nevertheless, SSA identifies several groups of people age 60 and older who cannot receive benefits. We explain more in detail what are the “never beneficiaries”.

What seniors cannot receive Social Security benefits in the United States?

According to the Social Security Administration According to the SSA, about 3.5% of people over the age of 60 are classified as ‘never beneficiaries’. People who fall into these groups are not eligible to receive any of the benefits provided by the SSA:

late immigrants

This group includes those Immigrants who reach age 50 or older and have insufficient income to qualify for Social Security. This classification represents 45.8% of people who cannot receive SSA benefits.

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infrequent workers

Refers to individuals who have insufficient income to qualify for Social Securitybut that they are not immigrants who arrive late. These represent 39.6% of people who cannot receive SSA benefits.

workers not covered

This group includes those individuals with sufficient income, but working at a job without Social Security coverage. This category mainly includes state and local government employees who have another retirement system. These represent 13.4% of people who cannot receive SSA benefits.

Deceased before obtaining benefits

refers to those individuals who are projected to be eligible for Social Security benefits, but die before receiving them. This group represents 1.2% of the people “never beneficiaries”.