Personal Retirement Accounts & the American Welfare State: A Study of Income Volatility and Socioeconomic Status as Correlates of PRA Support

Based on a sample (n = 6,407) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort, this study found a sizable majority (69.1%) of support to replace a portion of Social Security with Private Retirement Accounts. Logistic regression analysis showed that SES was a robust predictor of PRA support, particularly for upper class vs. lower class respondents. Findings suggested that there may be less support for a major pillar of welfare state social provisioning, despite successful Congressional attempts to block related legislation to date, especially since the opinions of more affluent persons tend to have greater resonance with policymakers than those of lower income individuals.