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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Americans are increasingly relying on government aid thanks to aging populations and rising costs.</li><li>Money from programs like Social Security accounted for 18% of total personal income in 2022.</li></ul>Americans are increasingly relying on government assistance — and it reflects a shifting economic landscape.A growing share of income in most US counties is coming from social safety net programs like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snap-alice-food-stamps-hunger-government-assitance-free-meals-2024-5">SNAP</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tax-cuts-social-security-boomers-benefit-fund-depletion-2024-11">Social Security</a>, and Medicaid, per a <a target="_blank" href="https://eig.org/great-transfermation/">report</a> published in September by the research firm Economic Innovation Group. Government transfers of funds from these programs accounted for about 18% of total personal income in the US in 2022, a nine percentage-point increase from 1970, and the equivalent of $3.8 trillion. The spike is in both urban and rural counties.The report said that Americans' increasing dependence on government assistance is in part due to an aging population. One in six people in 2022 were over the age of 65 — compared to one in 10 in 1970 — and just over half of the national transfer income flows from Medicare and Social Security.What's more, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-childcare-expensive-costs-wage-growth-employment-ai-risks-2024-8">healthcare</a> is straining people's finances. The report said Medicare and Medicaid prices are becoming more expensive as costs for care rise.The report's findings come as Business Insider has spoken with many <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boomers-living-social-security-government-aid-snap-loneliness-crisis-isolation-2024-8">retirees</a> — who are living solely on Social Security income because they don't have savings or retirement investments — who say they are struggling to afford basic necessities."I don't want to be rich, I just need to be comfortable," a baby boomer living on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/social-security-no-savings-snap-benefits-debt-boomers-experiences-2024-6">$1,104 monthly in Social Security</a> previously told BI. "I just want to know that I can have food when I need it and a nice roof over my head."The EIG's analysis of county and county-equivalent data (such as parishes in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/2010/geo/state-local-geo-guides-2010/louisiana.html">Louisiana</a> that are considered similar to a county) shows how much government aid transfers as a share of total income varied across the US. Just a handful of places with data had shares above 40% in 2000, as seen in the map below.Most counties from EIG's analysis saw government transfers as a share of total income rise between 2000 and 2022, with many increasing by at least 10 percentage points."Today, most US counties depend on a level of government transfer income that was once reserved only for the most distressed places," the report said.Paychecks and investments are Americans' main sources of income outside government assistance. Still, many don't make enough to get by: 13% of individuals live below the federal poverty line, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/middle-class-americans-earning-above-poverty-live-paycheck-to-paycheck-2024-4">per a report</a> from the nonprofit United Way's United for ALICE program. That's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines">$15,060 annually</a> for one person.The EIG report suggests that reliance on government transfers will continue to be a norm in many US counties. EIG said enacting policies that boost wages and encourage workforce participation would be possible solutions to help reduce reliance on government assistance.Are you living on a limited income or relying on government assistance? Are you open to sharing how you budget and afford basic necessities? If so, reach out to these reporters at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:allisonkelly@businessinsider.com">allisonkelly@businessinsider.com</a> and <a target="_blank" href="mailto:mhoff@businessinsider.com">mhoff@businessinsider.com</a>.

2 maps show how Americans rely on income like Social Security more than they used to

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Some American workers are encountering an unpleasant surprise when they reach <keyword id="25452" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="retirement" source="Orion">retirement</keyword>.</li><li>Murky provisions slash <keyword id="19966945" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="social-security" source="keywords">Social Security</keyword> for people who work in both the government and private sector throughout their careers.</li></ul>Patrice Earnest, 66, expected to have much more money for retirement. But after her husband died, she checked her <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/retirement-savings-social-security-baby-boomers-without-savings-401k-poverty-2024-8">Social Security survivor benefits</a>. The total: $0. "It's absolutely stunning," Earnest said. "My husband worked all his life since he was 16 bagging groceries, and that Social Security was something we had planned to have in our retirement." Earnest won't see a penny of the benefits her husband worked for — and it's due to her work history, not his. She's one of a few million Americans who see cuts to either their own Social Security benefits or to their <keyword id="44080" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="survivor" source="Orion">survivor</keyword> benefits when a spouse dies because they have a career history that includes both government and private sector jobs. The idea is to ensure public servants with pensions don't get overly generous retirement benefits, keeping people like Earnest from receiving full benefits from both a government pension and Social Security. But like many people affected by this, Earnest was caught by surprise — throwing her retirement budget for a loop. The two provisions at play here are the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, or <keyword id="19921812" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="wep" source="keywords">WEP</keyword> and GPO for short. They typically affect middle-class workers in select states who spent some time in a public-sector job, such as teachers, firefighters, and police officers, with government pensions and no Social Security taxes. The measures reduce Social Security benefits accrued during private-sector work to compensate for the state or local government pension benefits. Even a short time with a pension can trigger cuts to Social Security that workers might have earned in a private sector role. WEP reduces a worker's own Social Security benefits, while GPO applies to spousal or widower benefits like those Earnest expected to collect. "Certainly, I could use the extra money owed to me to pay the bills that I thought we could with a two-income household," she said. Right now, the provisions are part of a political firestorm over how the US should care for its older workers, with Social Security <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-will-social-security-benefits-run-out-retirement-crisis-boomers-2024-5">already imperiled</a> and many retirees struggling to pay their bills. On September 19, a bipartisan bill to eliminate WEP and GPO received the number of signatures needed for a vote in the <keyword id="19910021" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="house" source="keywords">House</keyword>. While supporters of WEP and GPO say they're necessary for ensuring equity, critics say they're applied unevenly across states and professions, sometimes resulting in benefit calculation mistakes. Those advocating for eliminating the provisions say they also hurt middle-class government workers the most. <h2>Unpredictable cuts to Social Security benefits make it impossible to plan for retirement</h2>The provisions can end up slashing your Social Security payments by up to half if you have a government pension, whether you were planning on survivor and spousal payouts or your own checks from time spent in the private sector. Workers with a private-sector 401(k), on the other hand, are not barred from collecting full Social Security. <keyword id="23551078" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="jane-roth" source="keywords">Jane Roth</keyword>, 74, a widow in New Haven, said she may have reconsidered becoming an educator if she had known about the provisions. <keyword id="20163067" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="roth" source="keywords">Roth</keyword> worked in the private sector before becoming a teacher. Because she pulled money out of her teacher retirement fund after six years of teaching to help finance life with a child, she said she has to work six extra years before cashing out her full pension. She's still teaching and has another 14 years before she can receive her full pension. In the meantime, she can't afford to live off the $32,000 she gets annually through her late husband's Social Security survivor benefits. If she retired now and started receiving her partial pension, she'd get even less because the GPO would kick in and zero out her survivor benefits. "What are my choices? Do I retire with a partial pension and lose 100% of my Social Security survivor benefits, or do I work until I am 88?" Roth said. "We are not asking for a handout. This is our money. They took our money and said this will be waiting for you upon retirement, and it's not." WEP and GPO were instituted in the 1980s to make retirement income more equitable, as many believed <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-retirement-of-peak-boomers-could-affect-economy-social-security-2024-4">workers with governmentpensions</a> had an advantage over Social Security recipients. But even pensions have become less of a sure economic bet, with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/teacher-pensions-systems-are-increasingly-underfunded-making-teachers-vulnerable-and-salaries-less-attractive/">returns less funded</a> and many states <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/101700/how_have_teacher_pensions_changed_since_the_great_recession_0.pdf">cutting back the benefits</a> they offer to teachers. "Essentially, it's a substitute," <keyword id="23551077" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="karen-smith" source="keywords">Karen Smith</keyword>, a senior fellow at the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute, said. "The reason they don't pay Social Security is because they have this alternate pension." Today, however, major criticisms center on the uneven application, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://oig.ssa.gov/assets/uploads/a-13-20-50970.pdf">rampant errors</a>, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.aft.org/news/retirees-advocate-fairness-retirement-benefits">poor communication</a> with those impacted. WEP and GPO impact teachers in 15 states, while state, county, and municipal employees are penalized in 26 states. An audit by the Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://oig.ssa.gov/assets/uploads/a-13-20-50970.pdf">found</a> that WEP and GPO were two of the "leading causes of improper payments" in the system. According to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://scottweisbenner.web.illinois.edu/RESEARCH/PAPERS/JPEF_Brown_Weisbenner.pdf">a 2013 paper,</a> the WEP reduces benefits disproportionately for lower-earning households in some<a target="_blank" href="https://scottweisbenner.web.illinois.edu/RESEARCH/PAPERS/JPEF_Brown_Weisbenner.pdf"> cases</a>. The Bipartisan Policy Center wrote in a July paper that limitations to WEP calculations resulted in "an imprecise approach to adjusting Social Security benefits." Many who support WEP and GPO, whether in their current or modified forms, say the math still has merit, as those affected by the provisions tend to be better off. The Social Security Administration reported the average monthly check as of July 2024 is about $1,783. Meanwhile, <a target="_blank" href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RS/98-35/60">nearly half</a> of WEP-affected Social Security beneficiaries had pensions above $3,000 a month in 2023. Proponents of the provisions argue that because of how Social Security <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/investing/what-is-social-security">calculates benefits</a>, a worker who spent a short period of time in the private sector and the rest of their career working toward a public pension <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/getting-rid-social-security-offsets-teachers-flunks-equity-test">could end up</a> getting a proportionally larger Social Security benefit than a worker making the same amount of money in the private sector for their whole career. Additionally, canceling WEP and GPO could worsen Social Security's financing, moving the depletion date for funds from 2035 to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-will-social-security-run-out-pay-full-benefits-plan-2023-3">2034 or sooner</a>. According to the Urban Institute, this could disproportionately benefit those with higher incomes who have 401(k)s or other private retirement accounts. But some of those workers on the other end of the provision disagree. "I had a 76-year-old lady call me up. She taught for 40 years and retired, but recently her husband passed away. She lost all his earned benefits, and she's going to wind up either selling her house or lookfor a part-time job," said Janis Hernandez, a retired teacher in Louisiana, who sits on the communications committee for The National Task Force to Repeal the WEP and GPO. <h2>The future of WEP and GPO</h2>The Task Force <a target="_blank" href="https://ssfairness.org/gpo-wep-faq/">notes</a> that 83% of those penalized by the GPO are women, many of whom took time away from their careers to raise children and thus have less in Social Security than their spouses. Many impacted by the GPO also can't fully calculate their reductions until their spouse dies, like Earnest. Critics of the programs also note that there is no similar means testing for private-sector retirement plans. "If somebody is in the private sector and they've got a good 401(k), you don't tell them, 'Oh, we're not going to give you your Social Security,'" Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican who's focused on Social Security solvency, told BI. WEP and GPO are front and center in Congress this month when the House of Representatives votes on the bipartisan <a target="_blank" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/82">Social Security Fairness Act</a>, which aims to eliminate both provisions. An alternative to eliminating the provisions completely is simplifying the formula for calculating Social Security benefits, which the Bipartisan Policy Center found would be less costly over time. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds, there's "widespread support" for a more proportional formula to calculate the amount these provisions shave off. But right now, any action on Social Security or altering those provisions may be a long shot, especially with the presidential election looming. Anne <keyword id="20223028" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mcleod" source="keywords">McLeod</keyword>, 68, said the provisions can be punitive. In her 20s, McLeod worked various part-time and lower-paying clerical roles, all of which paid into Social Security. She then taught in New Orleans for 28 years and worked part-time jobs after school hours. She's retired now and gets $67 monthly in Social Security — $500 less than she would've gotten sans WEP. She gets $2,910 monthly in state retirement, and she creates and sells artwork for extra income. While she and her husband are up to date on their bills, they simplified their lives by selling their house and renting because it's cheaper. "It's almost like a punishment in a way because we chose to be educators or firemen or policemen," McLeod said. "They said you get a good enough retirement from the state, so you'll be OK not getting all your Social Security." Correction: October 1, 2024 — An earlier version of this article provided the wrong figure for Jane Roth's Social Security survivor benefits.

The Social Security curveballs making retirement even more confusing

There is no denying the fact that your <keyword id="19956983" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="mental-health" source="keywords">mental health</keyword> affects every part of your life. After all, mental health is an important aspect of overall well-being, especially among young people who are navigating a world of rapid change, digital pressures, and societal expectations. Neglecting mental health can lead to long-term consequences such as chronic stress, anxiety, and depression. In today’s fast-paced world, where technology and social media dominate much of young people’s lives, addressing mental health is more important than ever. A recent study has revealed that the youth of <keyword id="19895045" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="singapore" source="keywords">Singapore</keyword> is facing mental health challenges and the situation deserves attention. <h2>Mental health issues in Singapore youth</h2>According to a PTI report quoting data from the nation-wide survey conducted by the <keyword id="23234918" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Institute-of-Mental-Health" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Institute of Mental Health" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Institute of Mental Health">Institute of Mental Health</keyword> (IMH), nearly one-third of young people in Singapore are facing severe or very severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, or stress. The survey sheds light on the increasing prevalence of mental health issues among the younger population, with one in three respondents reporting serious mental health struggles. The National <keyword id="21279543" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="youth-mental-health" source="keywords">Youth Mental Health</keyword> Study, initiated in 2022, found that 30.6 percent of young Singaporeans experience significant symptoms related to depression, anxiety, or stress. The study identified several contributing factors to these mental health challenges, including <keyword id="23214883" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cyber-bullying" source="keywords">cyber-bullying</keyword>, excessive use of social media, and concerns about body image. Young people who reported more than three hours of daily social media use were particularly vulnerable to mental health issues, as were those who had been victims of online harassment. IMH’s co-principal investigator, Associate Professor Swapna Verma, highlighted the unique pressures that today’s youth face, noting that social media can exacerbate body image concerns and lead to constant comparisons. "Navigating the complexities of youth is challenging enough, but young people today are grappling with unique issues that previous generations did not," she said. The anonymity offered by the internet, she explained, has made cyber-bullying a pervasive issue that can deeply affect mental health. The survey, which was conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and other institutions such as the National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, is the first of its kind in the country. It aimed to provide a clearer understanding of the mental health challenges facing young people, as well as to identify gaps in treatment and available support systems. <h2>Body image concerns adding to poor mental health</h2>According to the study, concerns about body shape were another major factor contributing to poor mental health outcomes. This finding aligns with global trends showing that body image issues are increasingly common among young people, fueled in part by the portrayal of unattainable beauty standards on social media platforms. The government’s response to these findings emphasises the need for a comprehensive, society-wide effort to tackle youth mental health issues. In a joint statement released by Singapore’s Health, Education, and Social and Family Development ministries, officials said that the study's findings reaffirm the government’s strategy to address mental health challenges among the youth. This strategy, known as the National Mental Health and Well-Being Strategy, was launched in October of last year and advocates for a whole-of-society approach to <keyword id="20492818" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mental-health-awareness" source="keywords">mental health awareness</keyword> and intervention. The ministries further noted that the survey results are consistent with those of previous research on mental health, suggesting that these issues are widespread and not confined to isolated cases. The findings also call attention to the need for continued collaboration between government agencies, healthcare providers, and educational institutions to better support youth who are struggling with mental health issues. (With PTI inputs)

One-third of young people in Singapore facing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or stress: IMH study

<ul class="summary-list"><li>America is facing a labor shortage problem as the population declines and more boomers retire.</li><li>Research Affiliates CIO Chris Brightman believes immigration reform is needed to boost the economy.</li></ul>Immigration is a hot political topic right now. But to one chief investment officer, immigration policy isn't a matter of political debate — it's an economic nonnegotiable.Chris Brightman, CEO and chief investment officer of the $147 billion investment manager Research Affiliates, believes immigration reform is long overdue — and billions of dollars are at stake if no action is taken.With an aging population and declining birthrate posing a significant economic risk in coming years, the US must take the necessary steps to boost immigration and economic productivity, Brightman wrote in a research note.<h2 id="d07da37b-d90a-4ec0-8bc0-42e235085dac">The depopulation issue</h2>Declining birth rates are causing a drag on many of the world's biggest economies, and the US is no exception.Fertility rates in the US are hovering around 1.6 children per woman, well below the replacement rate of 2.1, which means that natural US population growth is stagnating.According to Brightman, this is a big threat to US economic health. A declining population brings with it a declining labor force. With few workers and an increasingly aging population, programs like Social Security and Medicare become strained.Government initiatives to boost declining fertility rates aren't the answer, Brightman argues. Financial incentives in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan haven't raised fertility rates. Benefits offered by European countries such as paid parental leave and subsidized childcare have also failed to raise fertility rates.As seen in the graph below, US population growth is projected to trend negative in the coming years without additional inflows from immigration.<div type="image" title="Immigration rejuvenates population growth." height="691" width="942" msid="113937812" hostid="261" sizebytes="26162"></div><h2 id="cd3554fc-a73c-4f34-879d-067f5184864e">More immigration is the answer</h2>Brightman points out that immigrants have a long track record of driving productivity and innovation in the US economy. Immigrants have won 40% of all Nobel Prizes awarded to Americans since 2000 and originated a disproportionate number of US patents. Over half of US unicorns, or startups valued at over $1 billion, are founded by immigrants.Beyond these accomplishments, immigrants are necessary to bolster the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/labor-market-indicators-jobs-pre-pandemic-levels-healthy-goldman-sachs-2024-10">US labor market</a>. As <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-retirement-cities-buy-home-baby-boomers-florida-north-carolina-2024-10">baby boomers enter retirement</a>, they're leaving behind unfilled job openings — a trend that began in 2010 and has only continued to worsen. There are currently more job openings than unemployed workers.<div type="image" title="More unfilled jobs than employed workers" height="631" width="942" msid="113937813" hostid="261" sizebytes="22280"></div>With a declining population growth rate and an increase of workers aging out of the workforce, increased skilled immigration is the ideal solution to prevent economic decline, in Brightman's view.<h2 id="24a88d05-7dcb-4bb3-b7a2-af31cfd4efd1">Immigration policy solutions</h2>Brightman sees the need for more friendly immigration policies such as providing permanent residency to immigrants who graduate from US universities.Admitting more computer scientists, engineers, doctors, accountants, educators, and other skilled professionals would greatly help the US labor shortage. Brightman highlights that the economy especially needs more healthcare workers and skilled tradespeople.Countries like Canada, New Zealand, and Australia use a point system with selection criteria such as education, professional skills, and language. Brightman believes the US can emulate this immigration model.One popular reform proposed by policymakers is to exempt immigrants with advanced STEM degrees from statutory limits on the number of green cards granted per year. According to an analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM), such a proposal would boost the US population by 825,000 in the next 10 years and by over 2.5 million in the next 20 years.This proposal will not only fill gaps in the labor market but also significantly reduce the federal deficit in the next two decades, according to PWBM.An increased number of immigrants leads to increased tax revenues. PWBM estimates that if green card limits were lifted for immigrants with STEM degrees, the US government would see an extra $133 billion in revenues with only a $4 billion increase in outlays for a net deficit reduction of $129 billion.The effect would be even more dramatic by 2044, with $708 billion in tax revenue and $74 billion in outlays for a $634 billion reduction in the deficit.Immigration has a reputation for being a polarizing topic, but Brightman sees such a proposal as a necessary policy that'll tackle one of the biggest challenges facing the US economy.

How immigration reform will supercharge the labor market, reduce national debt by over $600 billion in the next 2 decades: Research Affiliates CIO

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Former President Donald Trump proposed ending Social Security taxes for older adults.</li><li>Experts warn the policy could increase the deficit by $1.6 trillion, depleting Social Security and Medicare.</li></ul>America's older adults could see tax cuts under a new <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/donald-trump">Trump</a> Administration — but the policy risks shrinking Social Security funds sooner than expected.In a Wednesday interview with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6360004194112?spark_wn=1#_intcmp=fnvpl_playlist_5_Trump_reacts_to_Kamala_Harris_tapping_Tim_Walz_as_running_mate:_'I_can't_believe_it'">Fox &amp; Friends</a>, the Republican presidential nominee said he plans to eliminate <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/investing/what-is-social-security">Social Security</a> taxes for older adults. The taxes currently apply to all individuals with a household income above $25,000. This group pays income tax <a target="_blank" href="https://www-origin.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/taxes.html">on 50%</a> of their benefits, and people with a higher income are often taxed more.Trump's proposed change aims to help older adults living on a fixed income by ending the income tax on their monthly checks."We can do a lot of things to help the people," Trump told Fox &amp; Friends. "People on Social Security are being killed, and one of the things I'm doing is no tax for seniors on Social Security, and I'll get it done quickly."Trump had previously pitched his plan to eliminate taxes on Social Security, <a target="_blank" href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112881452914352595">writing</a> on his social media platform Truth Social on July 31: "SENIORS SHOULD NOT PAY TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY!"Some experts have criticized the plan. The Tax Foundation's Garrett Watson published a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://taxfoundation.org/blog/trump-social-security-tax/">blog</a> on August 2 calling the proposal to remove income taxes from Social Security "unsound and fiscally irresponsible," arguing that doing so would increase the deficit by about $1.6 trillion over 10 years and cause the Social Security and Medicare trust funds to dry out quicker.According to the latest Social Security and Medicare Trustees report, the program will be able to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-will-social-security-benefits-run-out-retirement-crisis-boomers-2024-5">pay out full benefits for 11 more years</a>, after which they will shrink if Congress doesn't act. The average monthly Social Security check in 2024 is about $1,780 a month, and some boomers rely on Medicare as their only source of health insurance.Business Insider has heard from boomers <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/social-security-no-savings-snap-benefits-debt-boomers-experiences-2024-6">without retirement savings</a>, many of whom are falling behind on bills or forgoing retirement entirely. According to the Census Bureau's Population Survey, over half of older adults in the US have an annual income of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/social-security-no-savings-snap-benefits-debt-boomers-experiences-2024-6">$30,000 or less</a>.While tax breaks might help in the short term, boomers are scared their Social Security benefits could be significantly cut in the next decade. With Trump's proposed policy, it's a risk."It scares us to death because we'll still be here, God-willing," a boomer in Illinois <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boomer-couple-lives-social-security-snap-no-retirement-savings-2024-6">previously told BI.</a> "How are we to survive?"<h2 id="bc6245e7-eca1-4e8f-ab0a-679752174266">Trump has vowed not to cut Social Security</h2>Trump has previously taken a strong position on Social Security — at times conflicting with members of his own party who have faced criticism from Democrats for calling for Social Security cuts. For example, Trump <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-leave-medicare-social-security-cuts-from-debt-ceiling-2023-1">said</a> in January 2023 that "under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security.""Cut waste, fraud and abuse everywhere that we can find it and there is plenty, there's plenty of it," he said in a video message. "But do not cut the benefits our seniors worked for and paid for their entire lives. Save Social Security, don't destroy it."Additionally, Trump's platform that was adopted by the Republican National Committee <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-platform-social-security-medicare-retirement-age-end-inflation-2024-7">vowed to preserve Social Security</a> and Medicare benefits while ensuring there would be no cuts or changes to the retirement age. Older adults can start collecting Social Security at age 62 right now, and the official retirement age is typically 67, though it varies slightly by birth year.Even with Trump's pledge to protect retirees' benefits, Democratic lawmakers have continued to criticize the GOP and some of their proposals to change the program by raising the retirement age."As long as I am President, I will keep strengthening Social Security and Medicare and protecting them from Republicans' attempts to cut benefits Americans have earned," Biden said in a May <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/06/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-social-security-and-medicare-trustees-reports/#:~:text=As%20long%20as%20I%20am,cut%20benefits%20Americans%20have%20earned.">statement</a>.Vice President and Democratic nominee <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-expanding-obamacare-without-congress-health-coverage-2022-4">Kamala Harris</a> has not yet released a policy outline on Social Security, but she is expected to continue Biden's work to expand Social Security benefits, as well as protect Medicare and the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-expanding-obamacare-without-congress-health-coverage-2022-4">Affordable Care Act</a>.

Trump wants to cut Social Security taxes for seniors. It's not as good as it sounds.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Men far outnumber women as news influencers on social media, per a new Pew Research Center study.</li><li>That contrasts with other parts of the creator industry, where women dominate.</li></ul>News anchoring was once a male-dominated enterprise led by figures like Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow. That gender skew is showing up again in the latest platform for news: social media.Male influencers far outnumber female creators when it comes to delivering the news on social media, according to a new <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2024/11/18/americas-news-influencers/">study</a> from the Pew Research Center.Pew analyzed a sample set of 500 news influencers with at least 100,000 followers and found that 63% were male and 30% were female. The remaining 7% were either non-binary or had undetermined genders.That gender gap stands out for a few reasons:<ul><li>First, there's a much narrower gender divide (51% male and 46% female) among working US journalists, per a 2022 Pew <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/04/us-journalists-beats-vary-widely-by-gender-and-other-factors/">survey</a>.</li><li>Second, women tend to outnumber men in the influencer industry broadly. Influencer agency Izea saw a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://izea.com/resources/insights/2023-state-of-influencer-equality/#:~:text=2023%20Report&amp;text=Over%20the%20past%20eight%20years%2C%20average%20earnings%20have%20dramatically%20risen,in%20the%20United%20States%20population.">gender gap</a> when it compared the share of sponsorship deals earned by women (77%) and men (21%) in 2022.</li></ul>As creators take on a bigger role in educating the public about current events, the gender gap among social-media news influencers could shape what stories end up reaching people.The social-media gender split was a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/podcaster-new-politics-power-broker-harris-and-trump-know-it-2024-10">hot-button issue</a> in the 2024 US presidential election, as both parties <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/influencers-dnc-democratic-national-convention-traditional-media-journalist-digital-strategy-2024-8">courted influencers</a> to make content around their campaigns.Donald Trump and JD Vance may have benefited from a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-online-campaign-era/">media strategy</a> centered on male influencers. The candidates went on a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-donald-trump-podcasts-joe-rogan2024-11">tour</a> this year to reach young men via appearances with Joe Rogan, the Nelk Boys, and Adin Ross. John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/21/opinion/trump-gen-z-men-harris.html">described</a> the strategy as "bro whispering." Exit <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/election-harris-trump-women-latinos-black-voters-0f3fbda3362f3dcfe41aa6b858f22d12">polls</a> suggest Trump did gain ground with young men in 2024 compared to his 2020 run.Kamala Harris turned to a different niche of creator to try to reach young women, including an interview with "Call Her Daddy" podcaster Alex Cooper.<div type="image" title="Nabela Noor was one of five content creators that spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night." height="683" width="1024" msid="115423848" hostid="261" sizebytes="21738"></div>Harris also made overtures to reach men, such as an appearance on the sports podcast "All The Smoke," as well as on "The Howard Stern Show." But in the wake of her election loss, some political commentators <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4QHOS4osEM">lamented</a> her decision not to appear on Rogan's podcast, which is consistently the top-ranked show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.In Pew's analysis, there was a much smaller (and flipped) gender gap in the overall audience for news content on social media among young people. Twenty-three percent of US adult women under 30 said they regularly got news from news influencers, compared to 19% of men in that age group."The influencers who are providing news and people who are getting news don't necessarily look the same," Galen Stocking, a senior computational social scientist at Pew who coauthored the report, told BI.This suggests that a strategy of trying to reach women voters by focusing on podcasts anchored by women could miss a portion of the electorate.<h2 id="14166cf2-6038-4c35-86d0-7299411a9a16">Are news influencers widening the US political gender gap?</h2>Young people are increasingly divided along partisan lines. Men between the ages of 18 and 29 are becoming more conservative and women in that age group are becoming more liberal, per <a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/649826/exploring-young-women-leftward-expansion.aspx">Gallup polling</a>. The extent to which media diets are contributing to that change is harder to drill down, however.Pew's sample set of news influencers skewed slightly conservative, with 27% identifying as right-leaning and 21% as left-leaning. Still, only around half of the news influencers explicitly shared their political orientation.Whatever their impact on partisanship, creators have clearly taken on a bigger role in shaping the information landscape as traditional newsrooms have lost some trust. Fifty-nine percent of US adults surveyed by Pew in September said they had a lot or some trust in information from national news organizations, down from 76% in 2016. Trust in information from social media remained steady over the same period, growing from 34% to 37%.<h2 id="210dd0f2-1334-4ec8-80f2-1c59ca935fa9">YouTube had the biggest gender gap, while TikTok's was minimal</h2>The gender divide among news influencers was fairly consistent across all platforms in Pew's study. The one exception was TikTok, where 50% of news creators were male and 45% were female.TikTok has become an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-gets-news-from-tiktok-influencers-media-industry-2023-12">increasingly important news source</a> among young adults, who turn to the app for news commentary and on-the-ground videos tied to current events.YouTube saw the biggest gender divide among news influencers, a gap that other researchers said showed up in the YouTube audience, too. A Spring poll of 18- to 29-year-old Americans by the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics found that 31% of young men turn to YouTube to learn about current events, compared to 20% of women.

There's a gender gap among news influencers on social media, new Pew data shows

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia's population could shrink by half by the end of the century, the <keyword id="22757247" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Atlantic-Council" source="keywords">Atlantic Council</keyword> said.</li><li>The <keyword id="22757248" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Russian-Ukraine-war" source="keywords">Russian-Ukraine war</keyword> has accelerated the <keyword id="20234670" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="population-decline" source="keywords">population decline</keyword>. </li></ul>Russia's economy has a dire demographic problem on its hands, and the nation could see its population slashed in half by the end of the century, according to the Atlantic Council. The report from the Washington, DC, think tank — written by Harley Balzer, a professor emeritus at Georgetown University — points to Russia's long-running <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-calls-russians-more-babies-ethnic-survival-economy-2024-2" target="_blank">population decline</a>. The nation's overall population growth has shrunk over the past 10 years, according to <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/POPTOTRUA647NWDB" target="_blank">World Bank</a> data. That decline has been exacerbated by the Russian-Ukraine war. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-intelligence-assesses-ukraine-war-has-cost-russia-315000-casualties-source-2023-12-12/">Russian casualties climbed above 300,000</a> at the end of 2023, according to US Intelligence officials, and about a million <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-ukraine-war-economy-soviet-union-spending-workers-flee-imf-2024-2">Russians fled the country</a> soon after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. The demographic trend spells trouble for Russia's economy, which is already dealing with a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-lacks-workers-ukraine-war-labor-crisis-worker-shortage-2023-12">severe worker shortage</a>. At the end of 2023, Russia was short a record 5 million workers, according to an estimate from the Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Economics. Russia has turned to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-making-labor-crisis-worse-sending-workers-to-war-ukraine-2023-11" target="_blank">migrant</a> and even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-economy-worker-shortage-prison-labor-ukraine-war-putin-kremlin-2023-10" target="_blank">prison labor</a> to supplement its workforce, but those aren't sustainable solutions to its population problem, Balzer says. "Putin's government has not evinced visible concern that Russia's population might be cut in half by century's end. Unless Russia's leaders can develop and finance a more effective set of policies, the only solutions to population decline will be a combination of incorporating non-Russian territory and/or immigration from Asia and Africa," Balzer said in the <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/A-Russia-without-Russians-Putins-disastrous-demographics.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> this week. "As Russia's population continues to decline, immigrants will be increasingly vital to economic recovery," he added. Experts have said a shrinking population could result in a number of problems for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/russia-economy-ukraine-war-tech-reverse-industrialization-central-bank-finland-2023-3">Russia's economy</a>, like lower growth and productivity. By 2026, that could put <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-economy-brain-drain-labor-shortage-workforce-exodus-capital-flight-2023-9">Russia's economy on track to fall behind Indonesia's</a>, where population is rising, the Atlantic Council previously predicted. "Putin's choice of timing for military aggression in Ukraine might have reflected an understanding that Russia's demographic (and economic) situation would not improve in the next two decades. However, the war is turning a growing crisis into a catastrophe," they added. Russia's economy isn't on solid footing to begin with, particularly as its invasion of Ukraine grows more costly and damages its economic ties to global markets. Moscow is on track to fall into a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-collapse-recession-moscow-ukraine-war-us-dollar-energy-2024-7#:~:text=According%20to%20UC%20Berkeley%20economist,steady%20flow%20of%20US%20dollars.">severe recession</a> by the end of the year, one UC Berkeley economist previously told Business Insider, pointing to Russia's collapsed energy trade and its waning access to the US dollar. Correction: August 9, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated who wrote the Atlantic Council report. It was written by Harley Balzer, a professor emeritus at Georgetown University, not multiple Atlantic Council researchers.

Russia's economy faces a demographic disaster and risks seeing its population reduced by half by the end of this century, think tank says

Grace, a 29-year-old publicist in New York, has regularly used a slew of dating apps for more than four years, with little luck. Despite endless chatting, her matches rarely materialize into in-person dates. She's tried a paid version of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hinge-boyfriend-why-dating-is-better-offline-2023-6">Hinge</a> ($100 for three months). She's tried the members-only app Raya, but after she spent $120 a year for the past three years, it's led her to only two first dates. At this point, Grace said, the apps have left her "burned out and exhausted."In a recent Forbes survey of Americans who'd used dating apps in the past year, 78% of respondents said they felt some amount of burnout. A growing number of younger people are rejecting dating and sex altogether. Among millions, a consensus is forming: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/forever-alone-staying-single-done-with-dating-apps-2023-7">Dating apps suck</a> so bad that they might even be deliberately keeping us from finding love.Theories abound on what's behind the frustrating, sorry state of apps. Some point to how, as a way to compensate for stagnating user bases, many apps are increasingly becoming pay to play. Last fall, Tinder rolled out a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-tinder-select-the-499-monthly-subscription-2023-12">$500 monthly subscription</a>, in addition to two cheaper membership tiers. The League charges up to $1,000 a week or $2,500 a month. Hinge charges users for "roses" to send to their "standouts," which are trapped behind a paywall that critics have dubbed "rose jail." These days, "it's really a lot harder to be functional if you're not on some level of a paid membership," Damona Hoffman, a dating coach, said. While apps like Hinge insist they're "designed to be deleted," finding a partner on them increasingly seems reserved only for those who can afford it.Some point to a fundamental misalignment between dating-app companies and their customers: The more successful the product is for the user, the worse it is for the bottom line. "They don't actually want you to be successful because that means they're losing a customer," said Bianca Stelian, a digital strategist who posted <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dating-apps-deleted-hinge-raya-tinder-bumble-oversaturated-bad-matches-2024-1">a viral TikTok</a> positing her own theories about dating-app burnout. Others argue that the apps are intentionally gamified and addictive. The average American dating-app user spends <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/health/dating/dating-app-fatigue/">51 minutes a day</a> swiping, more than double the time the average American spends exercising. Ryan Clarkson, a lawyer who recently brought a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Tinder and Hinge users, compared dating apps maximizing user engagement and "trapping users in a perpetual pay-to-play loop" to pharmaceutical companies selling addictive drugs to vulnerable patients. Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, called Clarkson's lawsuit "ridiculous" and insisted that its business strategy didn't rely on advertising or engagement metrics.Still, others blame the problem on the near monopoly a handful of companies — namely Match Group (which owns 45 dating brands worldwide) and Bumble — have on the market, which has led to years of complacency. "They've just been the same for so long," Ali Jackson, a New York City dating coach, said. "Somebody needs to do something drastically different."So here's one idea: What if your local government played matchmaker?Before you barf at the thought of your mayor setting you up on your next date, hear me out: The more expensive dating becomes, the less equitable it becomes. Meanwhile, the US government is increasingly recognizing social connection as a key element of public health, and increasingly investing in ways to combat our "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/there-is-no-loneliness-epidemic-mental-health-2024-4">loneliness epidemic</a>." If romantic relationships are so important both for the individual and for society, it's not a stretch to consider them a public good worth investing in.Some countries, including Japan and Australia, already do and have been experimenting with government-subsidized and even government-run alternatives to traditional, commercial dating apps. While these projects are still in their early days, they raise a once unthinkable, now compelling question for America: Could the government bring some much-needed innovation to dating?For years, several East Asian countries have desperately sought to reverse their plummeting birth rates. They've rolled out subsidies for parents, salary increases for younger workers, and other family-friendly policies. Increasingly, they see the dating industry as a lever to pull.The Japanese federal government's Children and Families Agency, for example, has set up marriage support centers in most of the country's 47 prefectures, providing services like dating coaches, in-person mixers, and at least one mixer in the metaverse. A center in Saitama prefecture (population 7.3 million) reported that since its center opened in October 2018, 12,517 couples had begun dating through the service and 472 couples had gotten married.In Tokyo, the city government is even releasing its own dating app, part of a campaign called Tokyo Futari Story ("futari" means couple). The service, which the city has budgeted several million dollars to develop and promote, will require users to verify their income, prove they're unmarried, sit for an interview with the app's staff, and sign a statement saying they're intent on getting married. Some experts are cautiously optimistic about the government playing cupid. Bouke de Vries, an associate professor of philosophy at Ghent University in Belgium who's studied dating apps, argues that state-run dating apps are at least in theory better positioned to help people find partners without spending too much money or time in the process. Many for-profit dating services are "gratuitously prolonging" users' search for love, he said. "The interests of governments are much better aligned with those of love-seeking users than those of private companies and love-seeking users," de Vries said.Others say these projects will do little to change entrenched attitudes. Omar Minami, a former Tinder employee in Japan and cofounder of a Japanese dating app, said that low marriage and birth rates are the result of much-deeper economic and cultural issues, including the gender wage gap, intense work culture, and huge expenses of raising kids. Government-funded dating apps are a "shiny object" and short-term solution, he added."It will take decades of work in order to change the mindset of Japanese people in regards to marriage," he said. "Unfortunately, government officials are only looking for investments that will pay off in their lifetime."On the other hand, governments can be given so much power to play matchmaker they damage all of society. In the 1980s, Singapore pursued a racist, eugenics-based policy by offering discounted dating services exclusively to college-educated citizens, who were disproportionately ethnically Chinese, excluding members of marginalized minorities. The government also funded voluntary sterilization for lower-income parents.Other countries, however, have stepped in to make dating less dangerous for its most vulnerable citizens. People with disabilities in Australia can now use the cash benefits they get from the country's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ndis.gov.au/">National Disability Insurance Scheme</a> to pay for a dating app designed for people with disabilities, called the Cliq Connection. Cheryl Drury, the app's founder, said many of her customers previously had trouble dating, fell prey to scams, or were sexually assaulted. "They're just being eaten up on mainstream dating apps because they're just so vulnerable through physical assault as well as scams," she said. But she doubts the government will offer direct support for her services anytime soon, given the persistent "taboo" surrounding sexuality, relationships, and disability.A more realistic model for America may be a public-private partnership model. Last year, Japan's most popular dating app, the Match Group-owned Pairs, began collaborating with several prefectures and cities. The governments have employed researchers to devise questionnaires for users and have hosted dating seminars and other events, and they're covering the costs of their constituents' memberships to the app. The company, which isn't taking direct government funding, says it hopes these partnerships will help alleviate the "worsening population decline in rural areas and the resulting low birth rate and unmarried population."Francesca Katayama met her husband on Pairs in Tokyo in 2021 (they now have 2-year-old twins). The 31-year-old said she's in favor of more government support for dating — especially for an app like Pairs, which has already catered to people seeking committed relationships — but blames the country's high cost of living and intense work culture for low marriage and birth rates.Junko Yamada, a psychology professor at Rissho University who has worked with Pairs, thinks governments have a key role to play in breaking down barriers in the world of romance. "Although romantic relationships are often perceived as an individual problem," Yamada said, "the problem is actually largely due to social structures." She blamed a decline in dating on workplace sexual harassment, an insular social scene, and concerns about safety and security. Yamada said that government-subsidized dating services could appeal particularly to those who are skeptical of private-sector apps by offering extra security and ensuring users are serious about finding romantic connection.But could any of this happen in America? As of today, an engineer hoping to build the next OKCupid from inside the Department of Health and Human Services would face some steep hurdles.For one thing, there's a lack of bipartisan support. Beyond defending reproductive rights, liberals and progressives have largely shied away from promoting courtship and family creation. Meanwhile, small-government conservatives are unlikely to pass a Make America Date Again bill. Although! Conservatives have long been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/republican-baby-bust-panic-wont-support-pro-family-policies-2021-4">fixated on boosting the birth rate</a>, and Elon Musk, who is now donating $45 million a month to a Trump super PAC and has long warned against "population collapse," trumpeted the announcement of Tokyo's dating app. "I'm glad the Japanese government recognizes the importance of this matter. If radical action isn't taken, Japan (and many other countries) will disappear!" he wrote on X.But perhaps a bigger impediment than political will is cultural taboo. "There's something almost salacious about finding love and dating," said Justin Garcia, a sex researcher and professor of gender studies at Indiana University. If society viewed sex and relationships as a health issue, there would already be government funding to study it and independent commissions to address it, he added. But Garcia, who runs the university's sexual-behavior research center, Kinsey Institute, has found it nearly impossible to get the government to fund research related to sex and romance unless it's specific to a very particular, marginalized group, like those suffering from epilepsy or Alzheimer's.Instead, academics have to partner with industry or philanthropic organizations. Garcia serves as a scientific advisor to Match Group, which funds some of his research. Meanwhile, his work is under attack by Republican lawmakers, who last year ended state funding for the Kinsey Institute, prompting the university's board of trustees to consider turning it into an independent nonprofit.To Garcia, funding research on romantic and sexual relationships is a no-brainer. "These are some of the most important relationships in our lives," he said. "They impact our psychological health. They impact our physical health. They impact our financial and economic prospects. They impact our family dynamics and future generations."When it comes to dating apps, he supports rigorous research on what's working and what's not. He sees a role for the government, though, he said, there's a vaguely ominous threat of the government intervening in people's personal lives. "We don't want government telling us who we should partner with, and how to partner, and when to partner, but rather giving people more resources to have successful relationships," he said.No American government has yet helped its constituents date. But it might not be hard to imagine a local official like Mayor Eric Adams of New York City — who once spun his outdoor-dining policy as a way to promote flirting — getting behind a state-supported dating service. One could hear him announcing at a press conference: "We are extremely proud to introduce a new dating experience from America's mayor, called Adams &amp; Eve."<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/eliza-relman">Eliza Relman</a> is a policy correspondent focused on housing, transportation, and infrastructure on Insider's economy team.

Japan's one weird trick to reverse population collapse

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Western sanctions have impacted Russia's production of Su-57 fighter jets, according to a research group.</li><li>Frontelligence Insight told The Telegraph that Russia can't acquire some key components.</li></ul>Western sanctions are threatening Russia's production of its prized Su-57 fighter jet, according to a research group.Frontelligence Insight, an open-source research group with suspected ties to the Ukrainian military, told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/09/russia-war-air-force-5g-su-57-fighter-jet-stealth/">The Telegraph</a> that Russia could no longer legally acquire key components of its fifth-generation fighter jet because of Western sanctions.Citing unspecified documents, it said the impacted components include the WA36 attenuator and the PLR7 60-12 and EA-PS 3150 power supplies, which are part of a German-made radar device used on the Su-57."It's clear that Russia's military industry heavily depends on Western components, particularly in electronics," it said, adding that sanctions have put Russia's Su-57 production "in jeopardy."Bryden Spurling, a senior research leader with RAND Europe, who focuses on defense and security, made a similar assessment."There's no question that Western sanctions are having an impact on Russia's ability to generate its most sophisticated military systems," Spurling told BI.He added that a fifth-generation aircraft like the Su-57 should, in theory, give Russia "greater" situational awareness and more opportunities to penetrate Ukraine's airspace successfully, but that we have so far not seen much evidence of that."That is an indicator that Russia is reluctant to risk the few Su-57s it has," he said, adding that the aircraft's impact on the war in Ukraine has so far been "negligible" and that's likely to remain the case for the "foreseeable future."The Su-57 — known by NATO as 'Felon' — was delivered to Moscow's military in 2020, but there is only a very small number in its arsenal, and it has largely been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fifth-generation-jets-made-ukraine-war-russia-su-57-missing-2023-10">missing</a> from combat in Ukraine.The jet was built to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxBsBi5OVBM">rival</a> the fifth-generation fighter jets of other countries, including the US' F-22 and F-35, which generally <a target="_blank" href="https://english.nv.ua/nation/russia-s-most-valuable-su-57-fighter-jet-not-quite-fifth-generation-aircraft-specs-limitations-50425639.html">feature</a> stealth technologies, are highly maneuverable, and have the latest sensors and weaponry.But Russia has mostly relied on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-6th-generation-fighter-jet-su-57-ukraine-war-2024-6">fourth-generation aircraft</a>, like the Su-30, Su-35, and Su-27, which are upgraded designs on planes dating back to the 1980s.According to a 2023 intelligence <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-limiting-its-advanced-combat-jets-to-russia-airspace-2023-1">update</a> from the UK Ministry of Defence, Russia's reluctance to deploy Su-57s over Ukraine suggests it's eager to avoid <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-keeps-new-weapons-ukraine-fears-reputational-damage-losing-them-2024-3">reputational damage</a>, the loss of sensitive technologies, and reduced export prospects that could occur if some were shot down.Ukraine said it damaged one Su-57 in <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-claims-hit-russian-stealth-warplane-deep-inside-russia-2024-6">a long-range strike</a> in June in the Astrakhan region of southern Russia, 360 miles from the front line.That strike was a "significant symbolic blow" to Moscow's "long-troubled" Su-57 program, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/damaged-su-57-emphasises-vulnerability-russian-airbases-near-ukraine">according</a> to Justin Bronk, an airpower and technology expert at the UK's Royal United Services Institute think tank — but not one with a direct effect on the war.Echoing Frontelligence Insight's assessment, he wrote that sanctions had complicated Russia's efforts to source the avionics and micro-electronics that are essential components of the Su-57's cockpit.Western sanctions and the war in Ukraine have damaged Russia's economy, but their exact impact is difficult to quantify.In an op-ed for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-ukraine-war-moscow-west-sanctions-inflation-gdp-2024-10">Project Syndicate</a> earlier this month, Anders Åslund, a Swedish economist, said that Western sanctions could be knocking off as much as 3% of Russia's GDP each year, which he estimated to be the equivalent of $56.4 billion a year.Alexandra Prokopenko, a Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center fellow, meanwhile, wrote in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-outlook-defense-budget-spending-ukraine-war-putin-sanctions-2024-10">the Financial Times</a> this week that Russia's plan to ramp up its defense spending was forcing Putin to face an "unsolvable trilemma" of simultaneously maintaining a balanced financial system, meeting social obligations, and sustaining defense spending at current levels.But Jay Zagorsky, an economist and markets professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, had a different take.He <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-ukraine-war-moscow-military-spending-currency-inflation-budget-2024-9">told BI</a> last month that Russia's hefty military budget supports its sagging economy and that the invasion of Ukraine was likely the only thing keeping Russia from slipping into a recession."If there was no war, oh yes, I think there'd be an immediate recession," he added.

Sanctions have put the production of Russia's most advanced stealth fighter in jeopardy, research group says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Declining workforce participation among younger men could weigh on the US economy for years.</li><li>The trend could be a drag on economic growth, housing, and Social Security funds, experts say.</li></ul>America's job market is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employment-young-men-labor-force-jobs-unemployment-insurance-hiring-2024-5#:~:text=America's%20young%20men%20aren't,was%20often%20closer%20to%2095%25.">mysteriously short of young men</a>.It's a trend experts say will drag on the economy and could take years to fix, mainly because men have already been dropping out of the workforce for decades.According to Carol Graham, a senior fellow of economic studies at the Brookings Institute, the labor force participation rate of prime working-age men has been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-men-working-less-recessions-employment-productivity-2024-4">declining over the last twenty years</a>. Today, 11% of men aged 25-54 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/young-men-working-less-no-college-degree-student-loan-debt-2024-5">don't have a job and aren't looking for one</a>, more than triple the percentage recorded in 1955, when just 3% were out of the workforce, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.That amounts to around 7.2 million prime working-age <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employment-young-men-labor-force-jobs-unemployment-insurance-hiring-2024-5">men who aren't working</a>. That's introduced a host of problems for the economy, leaving key industries understaffed, and adding to the strain on government services and social safety nets, Graham and other experts told Business Insider."Some of them drop out [of college] and are just sort of forlorn and have no purpose or meaning in life. They're not very likely to be married. They're very likely to be living in their parent's basement," Graham said. "They're lonely, they're isolated."The economic burden can also compound through generations, she added, given that men who have exited the workforce tend to be lower-income and are more likely to report <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/disconnected-youth-a-tale-of-2-gen-zs-in-america-2024-4">mental and physical health problems</a>, which impact their children's ability to build wealth.Zack Mabel, a research professor at Georgetown University, theorizes that falling labor force participation among young men could impact the economy for at least several decades."At this point, it's a long trend over the course of multiple decades that does not appear to be improving, and could have real long-term consequences," he said.<h3 id="21b7ceb6-5c10-4411-8bf5-94b94fe51a82">Straining the economy</h3>The economy appears to already be feeling the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/young-men-work-less-financially-independent-salary-marriageability-2023-6">decline in male workforce participation</a>. Despite a small post-pandemic rebound, US GDP per employee fell 1% in 2022, the first decline seen since the <a target="_blank" href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.GDP.PCAP.EM.KD?locations=US">World Bank</a> began recording productivity data over 30 years ago.The overall labor force participation rate, meanwhile, has slumped to 62%. Besides the years following the pandemic, US workforce participation rate hasn't been that low since the 70s, <a target="_blank" href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.NE.ZS?locations=US">World Bank data</a> shows.The trend could weigh on key industries, like infrastructure and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-is-experiencing-factory-boom-but-finding-workers-is-difficult-2023-7">manufacturing</a>, where women are often less likely to seek work due to social stigma, Mabel said. That means it could be hard for those industries to find workers, which is a big problem considering the need for labor in growing areas like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/semiconductor-chips-jobs-hiring-arizona-tech-phoenix-tsmc-intel-china-2024-1">semiconductors</a>, he added."In a situation where you have millions of men … foregoing college, and as a result are less productive and less able to hold onto a stable job, yes, that certainly would raise concerns our national productivity would suffer as a result," Mabel said.And while the housing market may be booming now, it is also possible that men leaving the labor force will weigh on that market as well. Meredith Whitney, a longtime Wall Street forecaster, predicts home prices could drop as much as 30% over a period of years thanks to men working less, being less interested in starting families, and being more likely to live with their parents.Those trends all weigh on household formation, which is the most important factor in determining home prices over the long term, Whitney said.42% of men who have exited the workforce <a target="_blank" href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/es_81717who_is_out_of_the_labor_force_analysis.pdf">live with at least one parent</a>, a 2017 Brookings study found."This is such a seismic shift in the social structure," she told BI. "It's hard to say how long it lasts."Government benefits are also hugely taxed by men who are not in the workforce.Men who have dropped out of the workforce, for one, are significantly more likely to suffer from opioid addiction, Graham said. 44% of men who were out of the workforce said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6364990/">they needed to take pain medication</a> — more than double the portion recorded in employed men, where just 20% took pain meds, a separate Brookings study found.57% of men not looking for work said they had a physical, mental, or behavioral reason, according to a survey conducted by <a target="_blank" href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/bpc-artemis-survey/">BPC-Artemis</a>.11% of men who have exited the labor force rely entirely on government welfare programs for income, according to Brookings data."They cost the health system. They go to the emergency room and they're sick, they're not going to be able to pay the bills," Graham said. "That's coming out of somewhere."The welfare burden is exacerbated by the fact that unemployed men aren't contributing to benefit programs such as through Social Security taxes."Potentially, more and more people would benefit and depend on resources that we don't actually have the means to provide ... And that then would really present itself as a huge societal conundrum," Mabel warned.There's no clear answer for how to get young men back into the workforce. The causes appear to be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employment-young-men-labor-force-jobs-unemployment-insurance-hiring-2024-5#:~:text=And%2052%25%20of%20men%2016,enough%20to%20draw%20them%20in.">multifold</a> — disabilities, incarceration, and wages not being enticing enough, to name a few —but possible solutions could lie in helping train men for the jobs that are available, according to Graham, or finding ways to give young men role models, such as by hiring more male teachers, Mabel said."There's clearly an economic cost for more than one generation if the trends continue," Graham told BI. "There are lots of ways it costs society in addition to their individual human lives."

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