Beneficiaries affected by the annual earnings test in 1977

Every year a number of social security beneficiaries lose some or all of their benefits because of the earnings test. This article describes those affected in 1977--who they were, how much they earned, and how much they lost in cash benefits. The relationships between certain beneficiary characteristics--such as age, sex, race, primary insurance amount, family status, and type of employment--and the amount of earnings and lost benefits are examined. About 1.2 million retired workers aged 62-71, or one-eighth of all such persons on the rolls, were affected by the earnings test. Relatively fewer women retired workers than men incurred benefit losses because relatively fewer women worked and those who did had lower earnings. Black retired workers and those of other minority races had lower earnings than did white retired workers. About 370,000 dependent and survivor beneficiaries lost benefits because of dependent and survivor beneficiaries lost benefits because of their own earnings. This total included 148,000 widowed mothers, almost one-fourth of all such women on the rolls.