Publications
Understanding Late Arriving Immigrants’ Social Security Eligibility and Retirement Security
2025
Yin, N., Chen, Y.-J., Saad-Lessler, J., Wu, Y., and Finkelstein, R. K. (2025). Understanding late arriving immigrants’ Social Security eligibility and retirement security. Generations Journal 49(3). https://generations.asaging.org/understanding-late-arriving-immigrants-social-security-eligibility-and-retirement-security/
Yiyi Wu and Ruth Finkelstein
Late-arriving immigrants constitute the largest segment (49%) of Social Security “never beneficiaries,” lacking adequate earnings to qualify for benefits. Many such immigrants work into their older years, due to financial constraints and the pursuit of Social Security eligibility. Using the most recent microdata from the American Community Survey and the Survey of Income and Program Participation linked to Social Security administrative earnings and beneficiary records, our study assesses a group difficult to study through smaller sample surveys, exploring how arriving in the United States at older ages shapes older immigrants’ retirement security, including employment opportunities, Social Security income, other income, and public health insurance access.