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44 Soc. Sec. Bull. 3 (1981)
Federal Civil Service Adult Survivor Annuitants and Social Security, December 1975

handle is hein.journals/ssbul44 and id is 573 raw text is: Federal Civil Service Adult Survivor Annuitants and Social Security, December 1975 by Daniel N. Price* This article reviews the recent experience of adult survivor annuitants under the Federal civil service retirement program. Data are presented for such persons in terms of their status in December 1975 as primary beneficiaries, secondary bene- ficiaries, or nonbeneficiaries under the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. Analysis reveals that 63 percent of the survivor annuitants were dual bene- ficiaries-that is, they received an OASDI benefit as well as an annuity payment. About half the remaining annuitants were permanently insured under the OASDI program, so it can be anticipated that at least four-fifths of the Federal civil service survivor annuitants ultimately will also receive an OASDI bene- fit. The survivor annuity replaced 27 percent of a deceased spouse's Federal civil service salary at the median. The median replacement rate of annuity plus OASDI benefit was 48 percent of civil service salary. The issue of universal coverage under the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program has become particularly prominent since the mid- 1970's. One of the two largest groups of workers presently not covered under OASDI is the Federal civilian workforce, although individual workers often obtain coverage through employment outside of their Federal careers. Examination of the experience of Fed- eral civil service annuitants is one relevant way of in- forming policymakers and legislators on the universal coverage issue. The major purpose of this article is to add to the pic- ture already drawn of civil service retired worker annui- tants by presenting a view of survivor annuitants-that is, those persons whose annuity derives from the death of a Federal worker or a Federal annuitant. By exam- ining annuitant characteristics such as sex, age, annuity amount, salary of the deceased, starting date of the an- nuity, and employment status of the deceased when he or she died, the analysis helps define who would be af- fected if the Federal civil service retirement system and the Social Security program were coordinated. The issue of gaps and overlaps produced by the cur- rent lack of coordination between the two systems is also examined. This review shows, for example, the * Division of Retirement and Survivors Studies, Office of Research and Statistics, Office of Policy, Social Security Administration. extent to which civil service survivor annuitants have employment and benefits under the OASDI program. Further, the data on wage-replacement rates throw light on unintended benefit subsidies that may occur because of joint receipt of civil service annuities and OASDI benefits. Study Population This article reviews the recent experience of adult sur- vivor annuitants-those persons who receive annuities as widows or widowers of Federal civil service em- ployees or annuitants.1 The analysis is based on a 10- percent sample of the 310,310 widows and widowers on the civil service rolls as survivor annuitants on Decem- ber 31, 1975.2 Information on earnings and benefits under the OASDI program was obtained from the files of the Social Security Administration. I In December 1975, about 18 percent of all civil service survivor an- nuitants were children, whose characteristics are not examined in this article. 2 Two previous articles based on this study have examined the characteristics of retired-worker annuitants-those persons with an- nuities based on their own Federal employment. See Daniel N. Price and Andrea Novotny, Federal Civil-Service Annuitants and Social Security, December 1975, Social Security Bulletin, November 1977, pages 3-18, and Daniel N. Price, Experience of Federal Annuitants Under OASDHI: Age and Sex, Social Security Bulletin, July 1979, pages 33-37. Social Security Bulletin, August 1981/Vol. 44, No. 8 3

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