Trends in the Income of Working-Age People with Disabilities: 1980-2004

Robert Weathers

Mathematica Policy Research

Overview

• Disability and income measurement

• Data sources and income estimates

• Comparisons across datasets

• Tracking progress using long-term trends

Disability Measurement• Disability Concepts

• Sensory; Physical; Mental; ADLs; IADLs; Work Limitations

• Multiple dimensions to disability measurement• Environment

• Duration

• Severity

• Differences across national data in disability measurement

Income Measurement

• Sharing unit: person, family, household• Family income used to measure poverty and to determine eligibility for many

means-tested programs• Household income used in annual Census Bureau report.• Equivalence scales designed to account for sharing within the household and

facilitate economic-well being comparisons. In this presentation, we use method suggested by Patricia Ruggles (e=0.5).

• Survey measures of income• Detailed questions on income sources aggregated at individual level and then to

family level (e.g., ACS, CPS, SIPP)• Single question on family income amounts (e.g., NHIS)

• Differences across datasets in measurement of income

Data Sources• American Community Survey (ACS)

– 8 individual level income questions aggregated.

• Current Population Survey (CPS)– 18 individual level income questions aggregated.

• National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)– Yes/No questions about sources (“cues”), 1 question

about amount of family income.

• Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)

American Community Survey• Sources of Income based on 8 separate questions.

• wage or salary income; • net self-employment income; • interest, dividends, or net rental or royalty income or income from

estates and trusts; • Social Security or railroad retirement income; • Supplemental Security Income (SSI); • public assistance or welfare payments; • retirement, survivor, or disability pensions; • and all other income (e.g., VA benefits, UI compensation, child

support, alimony).

• Measures• Individual Income, Family Income, Household Income.

Household Income Measures, by Disability Type

63,200

34,80032,420

37,000

27,500 27,800 27,770 28,300

17,60017,05517,33317,17320,300

23,00021,362

37,559

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

NoDisability

Disability Sensory Physical Mental ADL IADL WorkLimitation

Household Income

Household Size Adjusted Income

Household Size Adjusted Income

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

Miss

issip

pi

West

Virgini

a

Kentu

cky

Arkan

sas

Alaba

ma

Tenne

ssee

Distric

t of C

olum

bia

Loui

siana

South

Car

olina

New M

exico

Rhode

Isla

nd

Color

ado

North

Dak

ota

Alask

a

Nevad

a

New H

amps

hire

Delaw

are

Conne

cticu

t

New J

erse

y

Hawai

i

Mar

yland

Household Size Adjusted Income

Relative Household Size Adjusted Income (Disability / No Disability)

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

Distric

t of C

olum

bia

Kentu

cky

Wes

t Virg

inia

Mai

ne

Verm

ont

Tenne

ssee

Mas

sach

uset

ts

Miss

issip

pi

Alabam

a

Penns

ylvan

ia

United

Sta

tes

Arizon

a

Colora

do

Alaska

Delawar

e

Mon

tana

UtahId

aho

Nevad

a

Hawaii

North

Dak

ota

Comparisons Across Datasets

No Disability Disability

ACS , 2003 $60,000 $34,600 CPS, March 2004 $61,999 $27,955NHIS, 2002 $55,000 - $64,000 $25,000 - $34,999SIPP, 2002 $53,313 $33,895

Table 14. Median Household Income of Persons Ages 25 to 61

Notes:

(1)ACS, NHIS, SIPP based upon at least one of the following: employment disability, IADL, ADL, mental impairment, physical impairment, or sensory impairment.

(2)CPS based upon employment disability.

Comparisons Across Data Sources

Employment IADL ADL Mental Physical SensoryACS , 2003 $28,000 $28,600 $28,000 $27,400 $32,100 $38,000 CPS, March 2004 $27,955 NA NA NA NA NANHIS, 2002 $25,000 -

$34,999$20,000 - $24,999

$20,000 - $24,999

$20,000 - $24,999

$25,000 - $34,999

$35,000 - $44,999

SIPP, 2002 $25,664 $24,989 $26,735 $26,218 $33,490 $33,776

Table 14. Median Household Income of Persons Ages 25 to 61, By Data Source

Summary of Comparisons• Differences in income across types of disability and

differences in income within types of disability across datasets.

• Consistent findings:• Low incomes: Persons with mental impairments and

limitations performing ADLs, IADLs or employment have lowest levels of income.

• Not as low incomes: Persons with limitations that include: severe vision loss, severe hearing loss, and physical functioning.

Long-Term Trends: CPS

• Analysis of long-term trends is critical to examining economic progress.

• CPS is the only dataset that contains a consistently measure of income from 1979-2005 for the subset of persons with disabilities who report a “work limitation”

• Use the data to compare trends in income for persons with and without disabilities.

Household Size Adjusted Income, Trough Comparisons

-

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

45,000

Year

2004

Dol

lars

Without Work Limitation

With Work Limitation

1982 Difference= $13,665

1993 Difference=$16,656

2004 Difference=$17,871

Share of HH Income for those with a Disability

24.619.2 15.8

36.137.3 41.0

6.89.4 12.2

12.6 15.414.0

19.2 18.2 16.8

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1982 1993 2004

Other HH Income

Other Public HHTransfersAFDC/TANF

Disability Programs(SSI,DI)Earnings of Others

Own Earnings

Earnings and Disability Income Trends 1980-2004

-

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

Year

2004

Dol

lars

Own Earnings

All other public transfers in household

Own public disability transfers

19821993

2004

Summary

• Differences across surveys due to differences in definition of disability but also related to differences in income measurement.

• ACS strikes a good balance between definition of disability and income measurement, but is relatively new and has limited time series.

• CPS only survey that is able to examine long term trends in income, but limited to work limitation measure of disability.

Future Research Questions

• As more years of ACS data become available, how do trends in income compare across different definitions of disability and to the CPS work limitation measure?

• Is income under-reported in surveys and has income under-reporting in surveys increased over time?– Meyer and Sullivan (2003): Yes, for low-income

households. Propose including data on consumption and income to improve measures of income.

– Implications for examining income trends for persons with disabilities not well known.

Future Research (cont’d)• Can “one question” family income measures be

improved?– NHIS, BRFSS and other surveys that collect data on health

and disability use one question to measure family income.– Researchers have shown that these measures understate

income compared to aggregated measures in the CPS, ACS, MEPS, etc. (Davern et al., 2005)

– They propose using methods that combine data across national datasets to improve estimates of income based upon single question.

– Need to be aware of the benefits and limitations of these approaches.

References

Devern, Michael et al. 2005. “The effect of income question design in health surveys on family income, poverty, and eligibility estimates.” Health Services Research, volume 40(5).

Meyer, Bruce D., James X. Sullivan. 2003. “Measuring the well-being of the poor using data on income and consumption.” Journal of Human Resources, volume 38 supplement.