OASDI and SSI Source Before 2001?

CPS
1

My research if focused on the effects of adults’ recipiency of OASDI and SSI on poverty. One part of my research is concerned with the effects of different kinds of OASDI and SSI recipiency (e.g., received for disability versus received for retirement, etc.) and I am trying to understand what proportion of individuals received OASDI and SSI for what reasons over time.

I see that WHYSS1 and WHYSSI1 are only available as far back as 2001. Is there another variable that tracks the source of OASDI and SSI income before 2001? I see that variables like SRCSSI are only available until 1982, but I was hoping there is another variable that can help me track the income source between 1983 and 2000.

2

INCSS is available in the ASEC from 1968-2024, and reports how much income the respondent received from Social Security during the previous year. INCSSI is available in the ASEC from 1976-2024, and reports how much income the respondent received from SSI during the previous year. I’m not aware of any variables in the CPS from 1983 to 2000 that provide information about the reason for receiving income from OASDI or SSI. The exception is a question present in the original 1999 and 2000 ASEC, which asks about the reason(s) for receiving SSI in 1998 (see page D-31 of the 1999 ASEC codebook and page D-27 of the 2000 ASEC codebook). IPUMS CPS does not currently offer this variable, but I can inquire with our IPUMS CPS team about the possibility of making it available in the future if that would be of interest to you. Unfortunately, I don’t see a comparable variable in other ASECs from the 1983-2000 period.

You could potentially try to determine reasons for some respondents (e.g., by using DISABWRK, UH_DISABLED_B1, QUITSICK, MARST, EMPSTAT, AGE, or other variables to make inferences about eligibility for different types of OASDI and SSI payments), but I don’t know of a way you could do that with certainty for all respondents, especially those receiving OASDI payments for multiple reasons.

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3

Thanks Isabel! I thought this was the case, but I appreciate you confirming it.