The economic contraction that hurts
The economic disaster that went along with the coronavirus pandemic didn’t hurt only workers and businesses; the Social Security program also had a lot to suffer. Unemployment rates went up again in 2020, and they didn’t return to the old pre-pandemic levels until last year.
As a result, there are still not enough workers paying into Social Security. As fewer workers earned a wage and contributed payroll taxes, Social Security revenues were dramatically lowered.
This negative event seemed to be over by now, but payroll taxes are anticipated to eventually normalize, and nothing can really make up for the payroll taxes that were dramatically lost during the pandemic.
