OASDI Cost Estimates and Valuations

The need of our labor force for economic security upon retirement, forcefully brought to public attention by the depression of the ‘~OS, led President Roosevelt to appoint a study committee which suggested a retirement program limited initially to industrial and commercial employees. The system enacted by Congress in 1935 was extended in 1939, following study by an Advisory Council, to include dependents of retired workers and survivors of workers covered by the program. After two further extensive Congressional studies, coverage was extended in 1950 to most non-farm self-employed persons and to certain domestic workers, farm laborers, and employees of the Federal, State, and local governments and of non-profit institutions. In 1954, further legislation extended coverage to self-employed farmers. The scope has since been extended to include benefits for disabled workers and their dependents, so that the official title of the system is “Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance,” abbreviated to OASDI.