Mortality by 

Career-Average 

Earnings Level

Tiffany Bosley

Karen Glenn

14 May 2019
• Previous research has shown higher income levels are associated with lower 

mortality rates. 

• Higher lifetime earnings are also likely to be associated with lower mortality 

rates. This relationship is important for analyzing and projecting the costs for 

the Social Security program.

• This study illustrates the spread in mortality rates by lifetime career-average 

earnings levels. Previous studies have generally been done based on partial 

career earnings levels that are not reflective of earnings that determine Social 

Security benefit levels.

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Why We Did This Study
• This study provides another measure of, and perspective on, the extent of 

variation in mortality rates by lifetime career-average earnings levels and how 

they have changed over time.

• Average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) is a useful measure of a person’s 

lifetime earnings.

• We analyzed the relationship between AIME levels and mortality rates for 

Social Security retired-worker beneficiaries.

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Mortality By Career-Average Earnings Level
• Compared the death rates among retired-worker beneficiaries by sex, age 

group, and lifetime career-average earnings level (AIME) to the annual death 

rate among retired-worker beneficiaries for that sex and age group.

• For each sex and age group, we calculated the relative mortality ratios at 

various AIME levels.

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Mortality By Career-Average Earnings Level Study
Data and Methods

Presentation Title - 01 Month 2018 5
• Data Source: Social Security Administration’s June 2017 Master Beneficiary 

Record (MBR) file.

• Excluded:

– Windfall Elimination Provision

– Totalization agreements

– AMW PIA benefit calculation

– Previously entitled for a Social Security disability benefit

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Data
• At age 62, index earnings to reflect the change in general wage levels that 

occurred during the worker’s years of employment.

• Up to 35 years of earnings are needed to compute the average indexed 

monthly earnings.

• AIME = Average of the highest 35 years of indexed earnings / 12 

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Average Indexed Monthly Earnings Calculation
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AIME Quintiles
• For each record, we determined:

– Sex and age

– AIME level

– Exposure: Active, Death, Termination Other Than Death

– Deaths

• Group data by sex, age group, and AIME level, and calculated annual death 

rates by dividing the number of death by the years of exposure.

• Relative Mortality Ratio – divide the death rates for each AIME level by the 

death rate for everyone in the sex and age group at all AIME levels.

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Calculations
Results by AIME Quintile

Presentation Title - 01 Month 2018 10
• We observed lower death rates for retired-worker beneficiaries with higherthan-average AIME levels, and higher death rates for retired-worker 

beneficiaries with lower-than-average AIME levels.

• At older ages, the differences in death rates across AIME levels diminish.

• Trends from 1995-2015 show the spread in death rates among the AIME 

levels remaining fairly steady.

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Results
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Age Group 65-69 Relative Mortality Ratios
• Females generally follow the same relative mortality pattern as males, in the 

higher earners have lower mortality.

• Spreads in the female relative mortality ratios among AIME quintiles are 

smaller than those for males.

• Questions: Is the socioeconomic status gradient smaller for women? Or are 

earnings a less accurate measure of socioeconomic status for women?

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Male / Female Comparison
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Age Group 65-69 Relative Mortality Ratios
• Spread in relative mortality ratios among the quintiles decreases at older 

ages.

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Age Groups
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Age Groups 70-74 and 75-79 Relative Mortality Ratios
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Age Group 62-64 Relative Mortality Ratios
• Higher AIME levels correlate with lower mortality rates, while lower AIME 

levels correlate with higher mortality rates.

• The trends from 1995 to 2015 show that the spread in relative mortality ratios 

among the AIME quintiles remain fairly steady. The spreads widens, but not 

significantly, and even slightly compresses for some age groups in recent 

years.

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Conclusion
Next Steps

Presentation Title - 01 Month 2018 19
• Currently, the calculations in the annual Social Security Trustees Reports do 

include the effects of lower mortality for beneficiaries with higher AIME and 

higher mortality for beneficiaries with lower AIME. These effects are 

incorporated into our projections by the use of “post-entitlement factors”. 

• Post-entitlement factors are designed to capture changes in average benefit 

levels after workers start receiving benefits, beyond annual cost-of-living 

adjustment (COLAs). Average benefits tend to rise over time due to:

– Additional earnings and benefit recomputations

– Differential mortality (those with higher benefits tend to live longer)

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What We Do Now in Current Projections
• In this study, we also completed a hypothetical worker interval analysis 

because of its potential use for incorporating mortality differences into the 

Office of the Chief Actuary’s recurring Actuarial Notes on internal real rates of 

return (note 2018.5) and money’s worth ratios (note 2018.7).

• We are also evaluating ways to more directly incorporate the results of this 

study into our projections of actuarial status.

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How We Can Use These Results
• The female 2015 group of 62-64 year olds have a larger spread in death rates 

than prior birth cohorts, which coincides with increased female labor force 

participation. Will this trend continue for females? Will females converge to 

males? Is there a possible cohort effect for women? Is there a change in the 

characteristics of women taking early retirement?

• Many workers with low AIMEs due to years of zero earnings are likely foreignborn individuals, and we speculate that foreign-born immigrants may be 

healthier than average. One possible area that could be further explored is to 

determine the percentage of foreign-born individuals in the Lowest AIME 

Quintile and examine their relative mortality ratio.

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Possible Areas of Future Study
• Link to the Mortality by Career-Average Earnings Level Study -

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/NOTES/pdf_studies/study124.pdf

• Links to similar research (including literature survey by Hilary Waldron) –

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v67n3/v67n3p1.html

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v73n1/v73n1p1.html

• Links to our recurring Actuarial Notes –

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/NOTES/actnote.html

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Mortality by Career-Average Earnings Level