Using the 2008 CPS-ASEC-SSA Matched Data Set to Show Who Is and Is Not Captured in the Official BLS Six-Question-Sequence on Disability

Richard V. Burkhauser, Cornell University
Andrew J. Houtenville, University of New Hampshire
Jennifer Tennant, Cornell University

With 2008 CPS-ASEC-SSA administrative records data, we will measure the degree that work-limitation-based and six-question disability sequence-based samples of the working-age population with disabilities capture the SSDI/SSI-disabled adult population. Using other variables on the SSA files (medical listing, stage at acceptance or rejection, etc.), we investigate the characteristics of those systematically missed. This research, which is an extension of Burkhauser, Houtenville, and Tennant (2011), will provide policymakers with a face validity test of the official BLS six-question sequence’s ability to capture an unbiased sample of the working-age population with disabilities and its employment and SSDI/SSI take-up rates.