New articles from the Social Security Bulletin

Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 73 No. 2 (released May 2013)

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Subsequent Program Participation of Former Social Security Disability Insurance Beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income Recipients Whose Eligibility Ceased Because of Medical Improvement

by Jeffrey Hemmeter and Michelle Stegman

This article examines subsequent participation in the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs by individuals whose eligibility for those programs ceased because of medical improvement. The authors follow individuals whose eligibility ceased between 2003 and 2008 and calculate rates of program return for up to 8 years after the cessation decision. They also explore how return rates vary by certain personal and programmatic characteristics.

Outcome Variation in the Social Security Disability Insurance Program: The Role of Primary Diagnoses

by Javier Meseguer

This article investigates the role that primary impairments play in explaining heterogeneity in disability decisions. Using claimant-level data within a hierarchical framework, the author explores variation in outcomes along three dimensions: state of origin, adjudicative stage, and primary diagnosis. The findings indicate that the impairments account for a substantial portion of claimant-level variation in initial allowances. Furthermore, the author finds that the predictions of an initial and a final allowance are highly correlated when applicants are grouped by impairment. In other words, diagnoses that are more likely to result in an initial allowance also tend to be more likely to receive a final allowance.

The Impact of Retirement Account Distributions on Measures of Family Income

by Howard M. Iams and Patrick J. Purcell

The income of the aged is composed largely of Social Security benefits, asset income, and pension income. Over the past three decades, the primary form of employer-sponsored pension has shifted from the traditional defined benefit plan to defined contribution plans, such as the 401(k). That trend creates problems for measuring the income of the aged because most household surveys of income either do not collect information about distributions from defined contribution retirement accounts or do not include those distributions in their summary measures of income. This article examines the impact of including distributions from retirement accounts on the estimated income of families headed by persons aged 65 or older.

Contribution Dynamics in Defined Contribution Pension Plans During the Great Recession of 2007–2009

by Irena Dushi, Howard M. Iams, and Christopher R. Tamborini

The authors investigate the extent of changes in workers' participation and contributions to defined contribution (DC) plans during the Great Recession of 2007–2009. Using longitudinal information from Social Security W-2 tax records matched to a nationally representative sample of respondents from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, they find that the recent economic downturn had a considerable impact on workers' participation and contributions to DC plans. A sizable segment of 2007 participants (39 percent) decreased their contributions to DCplans by more than 10 percent during the Great Recession. The findings also highlight the interrelationship between the dynamics in DC contributions and earnings changes.