Since its redesign starting with the 2014 Panel, the SIPP has had an overcount of Social Security income (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2018; Warren, Fox, and Edwards 2020). Census Bureau staff have reviewed the issue and identified a processing error for gross Social Security benefit amounts, TSSSAMT, where the value of Medicare deductions was double counted. The processing error has been corrected for the 2022 SIPP.

The processing error often overstated income among families and households with Social Security income, thus reducing the likelihood these families would be in poverty. This led poverty rates in the 2014-2021 SIPP to be lower than they otherwise would have been, particularly for groups likely to be Social Security recipients, such as people aged 65 years or older. For data users using the 2014-2021 SIPP files, a possible fix is described in a separate user note titled 2022 SIPP: Prior Processing Error Affecting Social Security ‘Self’ Amounts.

References:

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. The 2014 Redesign of the Survey of Income and Program Participation: An Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press .

Warren, Lewis, Liana Fox, and Ashley Edwards. 2020. “Calculating the Supplemental Poverty Measure in the Survey of Income and Program Participation.” SEHSD Working Paper 2020-20.