Mortality of Workers Insured Under OASDI, 1955

THE OPERATIONS of the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance program yield, as a byproduct, valuable data for social, economic, and demographic analyses. One important field is the study of the mortality of insured workersboth those with recent covered employment and those without such employment-in relation to the mortality for the Nation’s total population. Many of the differences arising can readily be anticipated from a priori considerations, but nevertheless the specific numerical results are of interest. This study of the mortality of insured workers in 1955 represents a preliminary investigation of the possibility of making such an analysis on a broad basis and covering an extended period. The year 1955 was selected since, for that period, detailed data are now available on insured workers and their recent employment experience. In addition, the great majority of the deaths that occurred in that year have now been reported. In this article a discussion of the general aspects of mortality analysis for workers covered by old-age, survivors, and disability insurance and an analysis of the derived data are followed by a technical note describing the basic data and the methodology used.