Summary: When the social security program was established in the 1930s, less than 15 percent of married women held paying jobs outside the home; today, about 60 percent of married women are paid workers. Despite the movement of women into the labor market, the social security benefit structure has remained essentially unchanged over the years. The fairness of the benefit structure has come under increasing scrutiny, especially as it affects women who have earned benefits in their own right. For example, a two-earner couple will receive lower combined benefits in retirement than an identical one-earner couple. Also, a married woman who works and pays social security taxes might not, because of the dual entitlement limitation, receive higher benefits than if she had never worked and received only a spousal benefit. Several proposals seek to remedy these inequities. These include two broad proposals--"earnings sharing" and a "double-decker" plan--and several more-narrow proposals, such as reducing spousal benefits. None of the measures has been adopted, however, partly because they would either boost program costs or reduce benefits for some beneficiaries. Their enactment could also impose a large administrative burden on the Social Security Administration.
