This paper discusses the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) as a new data source which will provide more reliable and comprehensive information on the economic resources of Americans and how public transfer and tax programs affect their financial circumstances. Further, it discusses the focus of the SIPP and how it is an important resource for studying the social and economic circumstances of social security beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, and the general aged, disabled, and survivor populations to which they belong. Several tables present data for the major subcomponents of the beneficiary population served by the Social Security Administration, and a short concluding section mentions sampling error and how it affects the SIPP estimates.

This material was prepared by Denton R. Vaughan, Barry Bye, Susan Grad, Donald Ferron, and Herman Grundmann of the Office of Research and Statistics, Social Security Administration. It appeared as a special section in the Social Security Bulletin, 1987 Annual Statistical Supplement, and is being made available in the SIPP Working Paper Series in order to more broadly disseminate the information.