Reengineering the SIPP: The New Dynamics of Economic Well-being System

1. Reengineering the SIPP: The New Dynamics of Economic Well-being System David Johnson Brookings/Census Roundtable Brookings Institution June 8, 2006

2. Goals for Roundtable • To describe our progress and options for the new Dynamics of Economic Well-being system. • To determine users’ needs for a new system, in particular, the components that are necessary to retain from the SIPP as well as the items that users are willing to give up.

3. Reengineering the SIPP

4. Goals for Dynamics of Economic Well-being system • The value-added of the dynamics of economic well-being system is in providing a nationally representative sample that can be used to evaluate the annual and sub-annual dynamics of income, the movements into and out of government transfer programs, and the interactions between these items.

5. Goals for Dynamics of Economic Well-being system • The Dynamics of Economic Well-being system will • include a new survey data collection, • require fewer resources than the current SIPP program, • improve processing efficiency, • be releasable to the public in a timely manner, • integrate survey data and administrative records data • make use of the richness of the new data collection in the American Community Survey (ACS).

6. Current Uses of SIPP • Department of Agriculture • Model food stamp eligibility and participation • Department of Health and Human Services • Measure the economic effects of welfare reform on children and adults, and determine "triggers" that cause people to go on or to go off programs. • Social Security Administration • Model SSI benefits, and examine the effects of benefits for couples and surviving spouses. • Researchers • Use both the longitudinal and cross-sectional nature of SIPP • Census Bureau • Produce P70 reports on Dynamics of Economic Well-being

7. Purpose of SIPP • “The two primary goals of SIPP should be to provide improved information on the distribution of income and other economic resources for people and families and on eligibility for and participation in government assistance programs.” • The Future of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, NAS, 1993 • “... [The SIPP] provides an unprecedented opportunity to ascertain the nature of income flows and program participation, both for relatively short periods of time and over extended periods of time, for individuals and families as they experience changes in household composition, income, and labor force participation.” • Improving National Statistics on Children, Youth and Families, 1984

8. SIPP and Administrative data • “The planners of SIPP are to be congratulated for their intention to combine administrative data with field survey measurements. It is…clear that combining such disparate sources of information provides much richer insights into the status and behavior of individuals.” - James Smith, Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 1985

9. Planning the new system • Develop new survey component • Content, Survey design, Survey instrument • Construct cross-walk between current data needs and administrative records availability • Develop prototype • National level and State level • Develop data products • Work with stakeholders to determine users’ needs

10. New Survey: Basic versus supplemental products Basic Topics Demographics General Income Labor Force Health Insurance Assets Education Program Participation Child Support Wealth Well-being Disability

11. Possible sample sources • There are several options for generating a sampling frame: • sampling from the Master Address File; • sampling directly from ACS interviewed cases; • sampling directly from administrative data; • selecting all CPS cases matched from one ASEC to the following year’s ASEC; • using all CPS cases in outgoing rotations (all months); and, • using the existing SIPP sample already identified.

12. Possible modes of data collection Mail out/mail back Paper and pencil CAPI – computer assisted personal interviewing CATI – computer assisted telephone interviewing

13. Possible Recall Periods 4 – month recall • 3 interviews per year • each interview asks about each of the preceding 4 months 6 – month recall • 2 interviews per year • each interview asks about each of the preceding 6 months 12 – month recall (2 options) • 1 interview per year asking about each of the preceding 12 months • 1 interview per year and an event history calendar to derive each of the preceding 12 months

14. Administrative records successes Medicare Enrollment Database (MEDB) Medicare health insurance coverage Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) Work disability and source of general income (e.g., Social Security) Asset ownership, income/earnings from a job, profit from a business, unemployment compensation, receipt of alimony IRS 1040, 1099-INT, and 1099-DIV Demographic characteristics such as age, race, Hispanic origin, citizenship Census Numident SSA SSR Receipt of Federal/state SSI Public housing and receipt of rent subsidies HUD-TRACS

15. Match rates between survey data and administrative SSN 94%

16. First Prototype: Matching CPS and Medicaid (MSIS) data

17. First Prototype: Matching CPS and Medicaid (MSIS) data

18. First Prototype: Matching CPS and Medicaid (MSIS) data

19. Possible Data Products Complete Public Data DEWB Internal files and RDC Synthetic Data

20. 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 SIPP ’04 Panel Data Collection 2/04 – 9/06 SIPP ’04 Panel Data Files Released 9/05 – 2/08 DEWB Planning 2006 – 2009 Time period covered by SIPP ’04 Panel data files 2/04 – 9/06 Prototype Release 2008 Time period covered by the prototype 2006 - 2007 DEWB Data Collection 2009 and on Time period covered by DEWB data collection 2008

21. Assessing Users’ Needs URL: http://www.sipp.census.gov/sipp/ Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Demographics Survey Division,Survey of Income and Program Participation branch Created: February 14, 2002 Last revised: May 10, 2006 Census Bureau Links:Home · Search · Subjects A-Z · FAQs · Data Tools · Catalog · Census 2000 · Quality · Privacy Policy · Contact Us

22. Questions • What aspects of the current SIPP do you feel are the most important for measuring economic well-being? And in particular, what would you be willing to give up? • Do you have examples of research (or products) that you regard as “best practices” in the use of SIPP data? • Do you have needs for both the cross-sectional and longitudinal aspects of the data?

23. Additional slides

24. Synthetic Data:Means for various retirement income sources using actual admin data are similar to synthetic data for many demographic groups (SIPP 2004 Panel and Monthly Benefit Amount)

25. Percent found by SSN verification, ADDRESS, and NAME search (CPS, SIPP and ACS) 94%