Nobody knows what the long term impact of the pandemic will be on Social Security. How much will the trust funds be affected by the economic downturn? Will the trust funds be healthier because of the people dying early from Covid-19? Will there be a surge of disability claims? Will the pandemic combined with the failed Trump presidency have generalized effects upon public attitudes towards government support programs? These are important questions but it will be years before we have answers to all of them. This article in the Philadelphia Inquirer contains some interesting speculation from some well informed sources.
5 comments:
Well, hopefully SSA will move away from cubicles in the work setting. It is really not a professional work setting to have folks working in cubicles. And, now with the pandemic I don't see how proper health guidelines can be maintained. And, offices are poorly ventilated as it is. Hopefully, going forward, such poor office structures can be fixed or many employees will be exposed to health and safety risks that should not be present.
7:43, please explain what you envision a workplace looking like?
The pandemic has shown that much work can be done remotely. Pretty sure this will eliminate a lot of need for office work. So maybe the SSA saves money there.
Figure there will be more disability claims 1-2 years from now. It happened in 2008 with the recession. A lot was just people filing because they could not find a job. But also people will become legitimately depressed. Also assume Covid will cause more longterm breathing related disability.
"Will the trust funds be healthier because of the people dying early from Covid-19?" Kind of morbid but maybe true. I always said the SSA will function better once the Baby Boomers die off. There are just too many older people for the current workers to support.
@9:12 IF there are cubicles they have to be spread out. You cannot have one right next to another. And many SSA offices are antiquated and have poor ventilation. Some don't have windows that can be opened. That will be a disaster during the pandemic.
So do you expect every business, not just SSA to change ventilation systems, office layout and space and change to a hybrid work from home model? I know many workers are tired of working from home because they do not have the space for equipment and miss office interaction. I think some folks will return to ballparks and stadium, bars and concerts, theme parks and other events, and high school sports on the weekends. I am not sure what it is going to look like, but it may be different for a few years, but people have short memories and this will fade after a while.
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