Summary Earnings Record Variables

The SSA/IRS Summary Earnings Records (SER) contain historical person-level earnings data. In addition to an array of annual FICA-taxed earnings (1951-2006) that are capped at the FICA taxable maximum, the SER provides information regarding quarters of covered work. Quarters of covered work are utilized by SSA to determine eligibility for participation in its old age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI) programs. Variables are in array form, i.e., in the form VARNAME_YYYY where YYYY is the year the variable refers to.

totearn_ser_YYYY

wqc_yrtot_YYYY