Research and Statistics Notes
Access Restrictions and Confidentiality Protections in the Health and Retirement Study
Organizations involved in statistical surveys of human subjects face two important and competing challenges: protecting data confidentiality while maximizing data accessibility to potential researchers. This note examines how the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), conducted by the Institute for Social Research of the University of Michigan, attempts to balance data confidentiality with the desire to broaden the pool of potential data users. Current HRS procedures are summarized and compared with those of organizations with similar programs, and potential ways to expand HRS use without compromising confidentiality are discussed.
Estimated Retirement Benefits in the Social Security Statement
Estimating the First Instance of Substantive-Covered Earnings in the Labor Market
Trends in Elective Deferrals of Earnings from 1990–2001 in Social Security Administrative Data
Characteristics of Noninstitutionalized DI and SSI Program Participants
Characteristics of Disabled-Worker Beneficiaries Receiving Workers' Compensation or Public Disability Benefits Compared With Disabled-Worker Beneficiaries Without These Additional Benefits
Stochastic Models of the Social Security Trust Funds
Follow-up of Former Drug Addict and Alcohol Beneficiaries
Military Veterans and Social Security
Military veterans constitute an important subgroup of Social Security beneficiaries. Because veterans are a large subgroup of Social Security beneficiaries and because policymakers have shown a clear interest in their well-being, it is important to understand how veterans and their dependents are currently faring. This note looks at the characteristics and trends in growth of the veteran and Social Security populations.
Distribution of Zero-Earnings Years by Gender, Birth Cohort, and Level of Lifetime Earnings
This note uses data from the Modeling Income in the Near Term (MINT) project to estimate the distribution of zero-earnings years by gender, birth cohort, and level of lifetime earnings from 1951 to 1996. The analysis is focused mainly on zero-earnings years that fall within a worker's highest 35 years of earnings, because only these years are used in the calculation of benefits.
Earnings of Black and Nonblack Workers Who Died or Became Disabled in 1996 and 1997
Social Security solvency proposals may affect blacks as a group differently than those of other races because of differences in earnings, mortality, and rates of disability. To provide some background for understanding this issue, this note examines the earnings of workers by age and race, comparing those who recently died or became entitled to Social Security disability benefits with those still alive. It does not analyze any specific proposal for changing benefits.
