A Look at Workers’ Compensation Beneficiaries

WHAT ARE THE PERSONAL and eccmcmuc characterlstlcs of workers’ compensatmn beneficlarles~ As of March 1973, proportmnately more men were among workers’ compensatmn benefiaarles than mere among the total experienced work force Beneficmrles were older, less educated, and more apt to be the head of a household than were experienced workers These findmgs are based on the data reported m the March 1973 Bureau of the Census Current Populstmn survey (CPS) that ldentlfied 12 m&on mdlvlduals as have been beneficmrres some tune m 1972 Most mere recewmg benefits as nqured workers, B few as famly members (dependents or SUI‘YIVOI‘S of uorkers Injured or kdled on the lob) Among the men, 1 m 8 did no work dung the year m which he reported berni a benefimary (1972), and most of the others worked only part of the year-both reflectmns of the effects of their dlsnbdltles About four-fifths of the men were m the labor force m March 1973 Beneficmrv.?s who mere m the labor force m that month were much more hkely to be blue-collar workers and m manufacturmg mdustrles than nwe all expermnced workers The data for workers’ compensatmn benefiC,WK?S described here are based on mformntlon on 12 mdlmn persons for whom data mere raported m the CPS This total 1s somewhat lower than &m&es derived from other sources for by DANIEL N PRICE*