Social Security is the main source of income for about two-thirds of Ohio recipients age 65 or over. It makes up almost all of the income (90% or more) for nearly a third of recipients age 65 and over, and for more than a third of recipients age 75 and older. Without the program, nearly half of Ohio recipients would have incomes that placed them below the poverty line.

Policy Matters has done several activities to help Ohioans understand the importance of this program and the current proposals to convert this program into private accounts.

Click here for a link to a paper released March 24, 2005 that describes the degree to which older Ohioans depend on Social Security and provides other information about the importance of the program to Ohio.

Policy Matters also brought national Social Security expert Dean Baker to Ohio to discuss his research on the issue at a public event at a Cleveland church, and at the Columbus Metropolitan Club. Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic Policy Research, and co-author, with Mark Weisbrot, of Social Security: The Phony Crisis (University of Chicago Press, 1999)

Much of Baker’s work can be found on his website.

Another excellent resource for accurate data on Social Security can be found on the site of the Economic Policy Institute.