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Activity Number: 417
Type: Topic Contributed
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 2, 2016 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
Sponsor: Committee on Statistics and Disability
Abstract #321107
Title: When Every Dollar Counts: Comparing Reported Earnings of Social Security Disability Program Beneficiaries in Survey and Administrative Records
Author(s): Holly Matulewicz* and David Wittenburg and Jeffrey Hemmeter and Lindsay Glassman and Lisa Schwartz
Companies: Mathematica Policy Research and Mathematica Policy Research and Social Security Administration and Mathematica Policy Research and Mathematica Policy Research
Keywords: Earnings ; administrative records ; survey records ; National Beneficiary Survey ; SSI recipients ; DI beneficiaries
Abstract:

Like all federal agencies, the Social Security Administration is faced with the challenge of making the best use of administrative and survey data for research and program operations, though limited information exists on how estimates from these two data sources compare on key outcomes, such as employment. This paper uses data from the National Beneficiary Survey that are linked to administrative records on earnings to compare survey and administrative reports of annual earnings for a sample of Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries. We find that both administrative and survey data indicate that less than 20 percent of beneficiaries work during the previous year, though reports of both employment and earnings are higher in administrative data. Our findings indicate that administrative data will identify a much larger sample of beneficiaries who worked in the previous year, which is potentially important for initiatives that target these populations, though both data sources provide potentially plausible estimates for employment outcomes that can be used to depict overall patterns within the population.


Authors who are presenting talks have a * after their name.

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