Social Security program finances may be suffering much more from the effects of sluggish U.S. income growth than from the aging of the population.
Monique Morrissey, an analyst at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Washington, has made that argument in an paper released by the EPI.
Social Security appears to be on track to experience a $5.4 trillion shortfall 
over a 75-year period, Morrissey says.
To close the gap by increasing the payroll tax used to fund Social Security, the government would have to increase the payroll tax rate to 7.2%, from the current rate of 6.2%, Morrissey says.
Some blame the gap on an increase in longevity, but an increase in the typical U.S. worker's number years of productive life has helped offset the increase in post-retirement life expectancy, Morrissey says.
For workers born in 1950, the average number of years of post-retirement life will be about 7 years greater than for workers born in 1900, but the average number of prime working years will be about 10 years greater, Morrissey says.
Since 1983, when the government made the last major adjustment in Social Security finances, growth in workers' wages has slowed considerably, Morrissey says.
The effects of that slow wage growth account for about 51% of the $5.4 trillion projected funding shortfall, Morrissey says.
The $106,800 cap on the amount of annual earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax accounts for about 31% of the funding shortfall, Morrissey says.
- Allison Bell
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