President's Commission on Pension Policy, 1979-1980

<p>The President's Commission on Pension Policy contracted for a household pension survey primarily to determine the effect of social security and pensions on savings behaviour. Due to the complexity of determining savings rates, the analysis required demographic, employment, pension, social security, asset, and income data of family units. Thus, resulting database is rich, and could be used for other analysis as well. The bulk of the database comes from two interviews, one year apart. The WAVE I interview was conducted in September 1979 and the Wave II interview was conducted in September 1980. Approximately two-thirds of those surveyed responded to the Wave I interview. The Wave I data are composed of 4,605 family units or 6,578 adults. Fifty-four percent -- 2,489 families -- of those interviewed in Wave I responded to the Wave II interview. Interview data were collected for all persons in each household surveyed. Households were divided into family units and much of the data, asset data in particular, were gathered on a family basis. A family unit is defined as an adult 18 years or older and his or her spouse and children under age 18. Some of the data, such as employment and demographic data, area available on an individual basis.</p>