Development And Evaluation Of A Survey-Based Type Of Benefi

The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program, popularly known as Social Security, provides income support for a number of distinct subpopulations. The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), administered by the Bureau of the Census, is a valuable source of information for the Social Security Administration. A procedure was developed that identifies major benefit categories in the SIPP data set and that relies solely on data collected from interviews. Evaluation of the classification algorithm based on comparison of the estimated number of beneficiaries in each of the several categories to independent estimates of the number of beneficiaries suggests that in most instances a high percentage of each category has been identified. Age and monthly benefit amount-size distributions appear reasonable. The classification procedure is a marked improvement over earlier efforts to classify the type of beneficiary.