Research
July 2012
Wilhelmina A. Leigh, Ph.D.
This slide show discusses how Social Security benefits truly help those who receive them. Presented at a National Academy of Social Insurance 2012 Summer Academy session entitled Demystifying Social Security on July 11, 2012.
February 2011
Wilhelmina A. Leigh, Ph.D.
Although many African Americans depend on Social Security benefits to meet their basic needs, the value of the program to this group is often debated and sometimes misrepresented or discounted. At a time when the nation is seeking to put its financial house in order and concurrently considering reforms to guarantee the future solvency and sustainability of Social Security, the Joint Center for...
January 2010
Wilhelmina A. Leigh, Ph.D.
Anna L. Wheatley
African Americans are more likely than whites to expect that Social Security will be their major source of income during retirement. Th is was true in both 1998 (35 percent of African Americans versus 17 percent of whites) and 2009 (37 percent of African Americans versus 27 percent of whites). African Americans also are more likely than whites to support the Social Security system as currently...
News
December 2011
Wilhelmina A. Leigh, Ph.D.
In its deliberations to develop a plan to reduce the federal deficit by more than a trillion dollars over the next decade, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction considered a proposal to calculate cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) in all government programs using the Chained Consumer Price Index-Urban (C-CPI-U), rather than the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U).
Implementing this proposal...
October 2011
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 -- The National Council of La Raza issued the following news release:
As the United States transitions to a "majority-minority" population over the next three decades, prominent health and income security groups say the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction and other members of Congress must take into account how changes to Social Security, Medicare, and...
October 2011
As the United States transitions to a “majority-minority” population over the next three decades, Social Security must be modernized to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse and economically insecure workforce, according to a report released today by the Commission to Modernize Social Security, made up of national policy experts representing African American, Asian American,...
September 2011
In a briefing held Friday by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), Social Security advocates said cutting seniors’ benefits to pay down the nation’s deficit would be highly destructive for current Social Security recipients and future beneficiaries.
Recently, lawmakers have suggested reforming America’s Social Security plan out of concern that it will run out of...
Video
October 2011
Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh speaks at an event entitled The Super Committee and Social Security, held by the National Academy of Social Insurance on September 16, 2011.
Slides from her presentation can be found here.
Press Release
February 2011
African Americans are far more reliant on the Social Security program than many realize, and accordingly they need to take an active role in the debate over its future, according to a new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.African Americans and Social Security: A Primer, released Monday, dispels misrepresentations about African Americans – such as those supporting the...