More on the ESF

I've written before about the Earnings Suspense File (ESF) the Social Security Administration ahs created. Here's some background on the need for the ESF:

The Earnings Suspense File, or simply suspense file, is an electronic holding file for wage items reported on Forms W-2s that cannot be matched to the earnings records of individual workers. A mismatch occurs when SSA cannot match the name and SSN on the W-2s submitted to information in SSA’s records.

Since the beginning of the program in 1936 and through Tax Year (TY) 2003, the most recent year for which data is available, the suspense file contained about 255 million W-2s.

In 2/2006 article on the Consumer Affairs website, the ESF contained $519 billion after 2005 but according to the SSA's IG, that number is a bit inaccurate: by November, 2005, the ESF was $520 billion. Right now, the ESF is probably close to $560 billion.