TOC: Vol 68 No. 2 Social Security Bulletin

Replacementrates are common and useful tools used by individuals and policyanalysts to plan for retirement and assess the sufficiency of SocialSecurity benefits and overall retirement income. Because thecalculation and meaning of replacement rates differs depending on thedefinition of preretirement earnings, this article examines fouralternative measures: final preretirement earnings, constant incomepayable from the present value of lifetime earnings (PV payment), wage-indexed average of lifetime earnings, and inflation-adjusted average of lifetime earnings (CPI average). The article also calculates replacement rates for Social Security beneficiaries aged 64–66 in 2005.

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)is a method of computing benefits for some workers who receive apension based on non-Social Security covered work. At the end of 2006,about 970,000 beneficiaries, mainly retired workers, were affected bythe WEP. This article provides a brief legislative history, describes the WEP computation, and presents statistical data about beneficiaries affected by the WEP.

TheRailroad Retirement program was established in the 1930s. It providesretirement, survivor, unemployment, and sickness benefits toindividuals who have spent a substantial portion of their career inrailroad employment, as well as to these workers’ families. Thisarticle describes the history, benefit structure, and funding of theRailroad Retirement program.

Canada’sPublic Pensions System is widely applauded for reducing poverty amongthe elderly. This article reviews benefits provided to Canada’s olderpeople and compares the Canadian system to the U.S.Supplemental Security Income program. Although Canada’s system wouldprobably be judged prohibitively expensive for the United States, theauthors argue that there are nevertheless lessons to be learned fromthe Canadian experience.