This paper examines trends in poverty using the redesigned Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 2014 Panel. Since the 2014 Panel conducts a more comprehensive interview with an expanded reference period—one year instead of the historical four months—this paper examines how SIPP poverty estimates from the 2014 Panel compare to earlier estimates from the 2008 Panel. We find that monthly and average monthly poverty rates are higher in the redesigned 2014 Panel than when measured in the 2008 Panel across the shared reference months of 2013. This appears to be driven primarily by the 2014 Panel capturing respondents in smaller families, especially among enrolled college students.

Annual poverty rates for 2013 are around three percentage points higher in the 2014 Panel than in the 2008 Panel. However, this difference fails to capture that there is essentially no attrition over a calendar year in the 2014 Panel given its annual reference frame. The 2008 Panel had significantly more attrition over the calendar year, given its four-month reference frame, especially among high poverty populations. Accounting for this difference in universes explains much of the difference in annual poverty rates. Finally, we document significantly fewer month-to-month transitions in poverty status in the 2014 Panel relative to the 2008 Panel. This is likely due to the annual interview frequency, which may capture fewer month-to-month variations in poverty status.