The National Beneficiary Survey (NBS)
Objective
The National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) provides SSA, Congress, and other policymakers with information about key factors that contribute to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries’ and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients’ successful or unsuccessful employment efforts. The NBS collects data on a wide range of variables not available in SSA administrative datasets or in other public databases, including socio-demographic information, limiting conditions, health and functional status, health insurance, interest in work, barriers to work, use of services, employment, income, and experience with Social Security programs. These results are valuable in our continuing efforts to improve SSA programs and services so that SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients can reduce their reliance on these programs and become self-sufficient. The NBS data have been used extensively by SSA and external researchers to conduct evaluations of its Ticket to Work program and other SSDI and SSI return-to-work policies and initiatives. SSA also uses data from the NBS to provide timely information to Congress and other stakeholders for purposes of oversight, policymaking, and program evaluation.
All information that we collect for the NBS is strictly confidential and we do not report it in any way that identifies survey respondents. We do not use the information collected for the NBS to determine the continuing eligibility of respondents for disability benefits.
Status
The NBS, as a standalone agency initiative, ended in 2023, after we completed preparation of the final data files and documentation for the three most recently completed NBS rounds (administered in 2015, 2017, and 2019).
After completing the 2019 NBS round, SSA decided to continue the NBS on a less frequent basis and to do so as one part of a broader set of surveys called the Disability Research Surveys (DRS) initiative. SSA awarded the DRS contract to Mathematica in 2021 and began administering a new NBS round in 2023.
The NBS collects data from a nationally representative sample of SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients. The agency—through its NBS contractor, Mathematica—designed and tested the survey and administered eight rounds of the NBS in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2023. We conducted the survey using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI), except in cases where a respondent preferred or required an in-person interview. After each round, we produce analyses, reports, and data files conveying the survey results, methodology, quality reviews, data parameters and definitions, and other pertinent survey information.
The NBS has been crucial to researchers and analysts within SSA and at other Federal agencies and academic institutions who have used NBS data extensively to evaluate the Ticket to Work program and other SSDI and SSI work incentive programs and policies. These uses of the NBS have resulted in dozens of published research papers and reports, which have augmented our knowledge base regarding the outcomes and impacts of agency policy initiatives. In addition, we have been able to provide timely information to Congress and other stakeholders for purposes of oversight, policymaking, budgetary review, program evaluation, and service improvement. The data we obtain from the NBS (in conjunction with other major data sources, such as the Disability Analysis File) better enables us to provide clear and reliable responses to the inquiries we receive on these issues. We ensure wide availability of and access to the NBS results by posting the NBS data files (public use files) and documentation on our agency intranet and internet sites along with other NBS-related products including selected research papers that have made use of NBS results; NBS fact sheets that highlight findings derived from the NBS; and NBS descriptive statistics which provide a useful overview of NBS results.
National Beneficiary Survey: Disability Statistics, 2015. This report, released in March 2018, provides key descriptive statistics from the 2015 NBS, including beneficiary characteristics and health, program and service participation, employment interest and activity, job characteristics, and benefits and employment interaction.
Employment Experiences of Young Adults and High Earners Who Receive Social Security Disability Benefits: Findings from Semi structured Interviews. This paper, completed as part of the 2015 round of the NBS and published in March 2016, provides information on the obstacles to finding and maintaining a job and the variety of strategies beneficiaries use to overcome them.
Prior analyses of the NBS data have shown the many factors that can help or hinder a beneficiary’s efforts to find work. To complement the NBS, we used SSA administrative data to identify SSI recipients and SSDI beneficiaries whose patterns of work and earning suggested they had the best odds of reducing their dependence on benefits or leaving the benefit rolls. We conducted in-depth interviews asking them about their benefit experiences and their attempts to find and keep jobs. The following papers, completed as a part of the Ticket to Work (TTW) evaluation, provide general statistics for Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities and TTW participants. For more information on the TTW evaluation and links to all the reports, please visit the TTW page.
2010 National Beneficiary Survey: Methodology and Descriptive Statistics, Final Report. This paper, completed as a part of the TTW evaluation and published in April 2012, provides a description of the sampling design and the data collection activities for Round 4 (2010) of the Social Security Administration (SSA) National Beneficiary Survey (NBS). The NBS collects data from a national sample of working-age (age 18 to 64) DI and SSI beneficiaries and a sample of TTW participants. In this paper, we update the descriptive statistics from the appendices to earlier TTW evaluation reports. In this paper we do not analyze the NBS data, but rather provide a data resource to support the analyses conducted in other papers for the seventh report. It also provides general statistics for Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities and TTW program participants.
2006 National Beneficiary Survey: Methodology and Descriptive Statistics, Final Report. This paper, published in October 2009, provides a description of the sampling design and the data collection activities for Round 3 (2006) of the Social Security Administration (SSA) National Beneficiary Survey (NBS). The NBS collects data from a national sample of working-age (age 18 to 64) DI and SSI beneficiaries and a sample of TTW participants. In this paper, we update the descriptive statistics from the appendices to earlier TTW evaluation reports. It does not include analysis, but rather is a data resource to support the analyses conducted in other papers for the fifth report and for general information about SSA beneficiaries with disabilities.
Fact Sheets
These Fact Sheets answer questions about SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients, including Ticket to Work participants, using data from the NBS.
NBS Fact Sheet 1: Health Insurance Coverage
This Fact Sheet examines how many SSA beneficiaries have health insurance and whether beneficiaries who work are more likely to have healthcare than those who do not work.
NBS Fact Sheet 2: Health Status
This Fact Sheet examines how SSA beneficiaries rate their own health and whether working beneficiaries are healthier than non-working beneficiaries.
NBS Fact Sheet 3: Work and Work Goals
This Fact Sheet examines how many SSA beneficiaries are working or have an interest in working.
NBS Fact Sheet 4: Reason Not Working
This Fact Sheet examines the reasons SSA beneficiaries reported for not working in 2004.
NBS Fact Sheet 5: TTW Awareness
This Fact Sheet examines beneficiary awareness of Ticket to Work and several other SSA work incentive programs in 2006. It compares awareness of work incentives for work-oriented beneficiaries and beneficiaries who are not work-oriented.
NBS Fact Sheet 6: TTW Participant Characteristics
This Fact Sheet examines the characteristics of Ticket to Work participants and how they compare to non-participants.
NBS Fact Sheet 7: Service Use
This Fact Sheet examines the service use of SSI and SSDI beneficiaries and their reasons for using services
NBS Fact Sheet 8: Service Use by Work-Oriented Status
This Fact Sheet examines the service use of work-oriented and not work-oriented beneficiaries and their reasons for using services.
NBS Fact Sheet 9: Work Activity by Title
This Fact Sheet examines the work activity of SSI, SSDI, and concurrent beneficiaries, including their wages and hours worked.
NBS Fact Sheet 10: Work Activity by Ticket to Work Participation
This Fact Sheet examines the work activity of Ticket to Work participants and nonparticipants, including their wages and hours worked.
NBS Fact Sheet 11: National Comparisons of Work
This Fact Sheet examines the employment rate and full-time work of Social Security disability beneficiaries compared to the working-age US population and working-age persons with a disability.
NBS Fact Sheet 12: Health Insurance Over Time
This Fact Sheet compares health insurance coverage in 2003 and 2014 using data from rounds 1 and 5 of the National Beneficiary Survey.
NBS Fact Sheet 13: Educational Attainment Over Time
This Fact Sheet compares the educational attainment of disability beneficiaries in 2005 and 2015 using data from rounds 2 and 5 of the National Beneficiary Survey.
NBS Fact Sheet 14: Sociodemographic Characteristics of Beneficiaries by Work Orientation
This Fact Sheet examines the characteristics of work-oriented beneficiaries and how they compare to those who are not work-oriented.
NBS Fact Sheet 15: Internet Use Among Beneficiaries
This Fact Sheet examines the internet use of Social Security disability beneficiaries.
Related Papers
The following papers, also completed as part of the TTW evaluation, use NBS data:
Final TTW Evaluation Report
Fifth TTW Evaluation Reports
Characteristics, Employment, and Sources of Support Among Working-Age SSI and DI Beneficiaries, Final Report.
SSI and DI Beneficiaries with Work-Related Goals and Expectations, Final Report.
Longitudinal Experiences of an Early Cohort of Ticket to Work Participants, Final Report.
Fourth TTW Evaluation ReportThird TTW Evaluation Report
Second TTW Evaluation Report
First TTW Evaluation Report
Round 1 Documentation and Public Use Files
Round 2 Documentation and Public Use Files
Round 3 Documentation and Public Use Files
Round 4 Documentation and Public Use Files
Round 5 Documentation and Public Use Files
Round 6 Documentation and Public Use Files
Round 7 Documentation and Public Use Files
Round 8 Documentation and Public Use Files - Coming Soon