Health and Retirement Study Imputation of Lifetime Earnings: Data Description and Technical Documentation

This data product, Imputation of Lifetime Earnings, provides lifetime earnings estimates of respondents in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). It uses information from earnings records provided by the Social Security Administration (SSA), imputation, as well as projection, to estimate cumulative lifetime earnings through various ages. This documentation details the types of SSA earnings records available to the HRS, how the earnings records are utilized in this data product, and what imputation and projection methods are used when SSA earnings records are not available. Users who only need to know the definitions of variables included in this data product may proceed to Section 4 directly. This restricted data product is intended for exclusive use by you and the persons specified in the Agreement for Use of Restricted Data from the Health and Retirement Study and/or the Supplemental Agreement with Research Staff for Use of Restricted Data from the Health and Retirement Study. The HRS gratefully acknowledges the special assistance of the SSA’s Office of Research and Statistics for their assistance in retrieving the administrative records of HRS respondents who gave consent for those records to be used for research purposes.