Social Security's minimum benefit provision, the Special Minimum Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), is an alternative benefit formula that increases benefits paid to workers who had low earnings for many years and to their dependents and survivors. Unlike the standard Social Security benefit formula, which is based on a worker's average lifetime earnings, the Special Minimum PIA is based on the number of years a person has worked. Beneficiaries receive the higher of the two amounts. Because of the way regular Social Security benefits and the Special Minimum PIA are computed, the number of recipients who qualify for the Special Minimum PIA has been decreasing. In 2017, about 39,347 (or about 0.6%) of the 62 million Social Security recipients qualified for the minimum benefit. This report explains how the Special Minimum PIA functions under current law and provides some historical background on minimum benefit provisions in the Social Security Act. It then presents arguments for and against expanding the Special Minimum PIA, discusses elements to be considered in proposals for change, and describes some specific options for increasing benefits paid to people with low earnings or low income. To be eligible for a Social Security retired-worker benefit, a worker generally needs 40 earnings credits (also called quarters of coverage ). A worker may earn up to four earnings credits per calendar year. In 2018, a worker earns one credit for each $1,320 of covered earnings (i.e., earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes), up to a maximum of four credits for covered earnings of $5,280 or more. The primary insurance amoun t (PIA) is the benefit a worker would receive if the worker elects to begin receiving retirement benefits at the worker's full retirement age (FRA, sometimes called the normal retirement age ). The PIA is based on a summary measure of the worker's lifetime earnings, called the average indexed monthly earnings (AIME). To compute a worker's AIME, the worker's earnings are converted into current-dollar terms by indexing each year of earnings to historical wage growth, and the sum of the highest 35 years of indexed earnings are divided by 35 to determine career-average annual earnings. This amount is then divided by 12, to get a monthly amount. If a worker has fewer than 35 years of covered earnings (because of time out of the labor force for family caregiving, spells of unemployment, or other reasons), years of no earnings are entered as zeros. Next, the standard Social Security benefit formula is applied to the worker's AIME to get the PIA. Two dollar thresholds, known as bend points , are used to divide the worker's AIME into three segments; in 2018, the two bend points are $895 and $5,397. Three conversion factors—90%, 32%, and 15%—are applied to the three different segments of the worker's AIME to compute the basic monthly benefit; 90% is applied to the $0-$895 segment, 32% to the $895-$5,397 segment, and 15% to the over-$5,397 segment. Because the lower conversion factors apply to higher earnings segment, the benefit formula is progressive. That is, it replaces a higher percentage of the pre-retirement earnings of workers with low career-average earnings than for workers with high career-average earnings. Social Security also provides auxiliary benefits to eligible family members of a retired, disabled, or deceased worker. Benefits payable to family members are equal to a specified percentage of the worker's PIA. For example, a spouse's benefit is equal to 50% of the worker's PIA and a widow(er)'s benefit is equal to 100% of the deceased worker's PIA. Unlike the regular benefit, which is based on lifetime earnings, the Special Minimum PIA benefit is based on the number of years spent in covered employment. Beneficiaries receive the higher of the two amounts. A year of coverage for the purposes of computing the Special Minimum PIA is a year during which the worker has covered earnings more than a specified threshold. Different from the required amount for earnings credits (or quarters of coverage) under regular benefits, since 1991, the annual threshold for a year of coverage under the Special Minimum PIA has equaled 15% of the "old law" contribution and benefit base. The old law contribution and benefit base is indexed to increases with the national average wage. As a result, year of coverage thresholds for the Special Minimum PIA are indexed to wage growth. The 2018 threshold is $14,310. The year of coverage thresholds create a "cliff" effect. If a worker's earnings in a year are even one dollar short of the threshold for that year, a year of coverage is not credited. The Special Minimum PIA depends only on a worker's years of coverage. A worker must have at least 11 years of coverage to be eligible for the benefit. For those with 11 years, the Special Minimum PIA monthly benefit is $40.80 in 2018. It increases by about $43 for each additional year of coverage (see Table 1 ). Years of coverage in excess of 30 do not increase the Special Minimum PIA amount; a person with 30 years of coverage in 2018 would qualify for a Special Minimum PIA of $848.80. The initial Special Minimum PIA benefit amounts are indexed to price inflation, in contrast to regular Social Security benefits, which are indexed to wage inflation. As shown in Figure 1 , wages generally grow faster than prices, so regular benefits have grown faster than initial Special Minimum PIA benefits. As a result, a worker's regular benefit is now almost always higher than the Special Minimum PIA benefit. After the initial year of benefit receipt, the same Social Security cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) applies to both the Special Minimum PIA benefit and regular benefits. Monthly benefit rates for dependents and survivors are calculated as a percentage of the worker's Special Minimum PIA, not to exceed a family maximum amount (described briefly below). The computation of auxiliary benefits uses the same rates that are used for regular benefits. Various provisions may cause a worker's monthly benefit payment to differ from the PIA. Four provisions affect both the regular benefit and the Special Minimum benefit: 1. the a ctuarial reduction , which reduces monthly benefits as a percentage of the PIA for people who claim benefits before their FRA; 2. the re tirement earnings test (RET) , which withholds benefits for beneficiaries younger than the FRA who have earnings that exceed a specified dollar amount; 3. the g overnment pension offset (GPO) , which reduces the monthly benefit amount for people who have pensions from employment that is not covered by Social Security, but who are entitled to Social Security spouse or survivor benefits based on a spouse or deceased spouse's work record in covered employment; and 4. the f amily maximum benefit , which limits the total benefit that can be received by all members of a family, varying from 150% to 188% of the retired or deceased worker's PIA. One provision, the delayed retirement credit (DRC), affects regular benefits but does not affect Special Minimum benefits. The DRC increases regular benefits for workers who start receiving benefits after reaching the FRA. Workers entitled to a pension based on employment in certain federal, state, or local government positions that are not covered by Social Security can have Social Security benefits reduced based on the wi ndfall elimination provision (WEP) . The WEP decreases the conversion factors used in the PIA computation. There is no analogous reduction to the Special Minimum PIA, though workers subject to the WEP can receive the Special Minimum PIA. Some beneficiaries are entitled to Social Security benefits based both on their own work record and on a spouse's work. When a beneficiary's retired-worker benefit is higher than the spousal or survivor benefit, the beneficiary receives only the retired-worker benefit. However, when the beneficiary's retired-worker benefit is lower than the spousal or survivor benefit, the person is referred to as "dually entitled" and receives a payment equal to the spousal or survivor benefit; technically, the payment consists of the retired-worker benefit plus the difference between the retired-worker benefit and the full spousal or survivor benefit. Many workers—primarily women—who qualify for the Special Minimum PIA based on their own work are dually entitled and receive a benefit amount that is equal to the higher spouse or survivor benefit. Therefore, although they technically receive the Special Minimum benefit, the provision has no effect on their overall monthly benefit amount. Because the standard PIA uses wage indexing and the Special Minimum PIA is indexed to prices, which tend to increase at a slower rate than wages, regular benefits are almost always greater than the special minimum benefit. Thus, the impact of the Special Minimum PIA has diminished; the number of beneficiaries affected by the Special Minimum PIA and size of the additional benefit from the Special Minimum PIA have both declined. The number of families with benefit entitlements receiving the Special Minimum PIA has been decreasing since 1988. After 1999, the provision has benefited only newly entitled beneficiaries whose regular benefit is subject to the WEP (see Figure 2 ). The difference between the regular PIA and the Special Minimum PIA for a low earner with 30 years of coverage has declined, with an estimated difference of $4 for a worker becoming eligible in 2010 (see Figure 3 ). The Social Security Administration projects that the provision will have no effect on people turning 62 years old in 2019 or later. The estimates of the impact the Special Minimum PIA has on monthly benefits show that in June 2013, the Special Minimum PIA increased average benefits of those affected by the provision by an average of $46 per month (see Table 2 ). That is, the monthly benefit due to the special minimum PIA was, on average, $46 larger than the standard benefit those beneficiaries were entitled to.