Social Insurance and Truncated Benefits: Measuring the Impacts of Workers' Compensation

Table 1

(a) Proportion of workers at the binding temporary maximum weekly benefit. (b) Proportion of workers at the binding temporary minimum weekly benefit.

(a)   

Year	Proportion in “high wage”	Average maximum benefit^∗
1940	0.38	$19.91 (3.06)
1950	0.88	$28.96 (6.50)
1960	0.76	$47.46 (13.72)
1970	0.80	$69.50 (17.75)
1980	0.57	$201.15 (65.66)
1990	0.37	$364.48 (108.17)

(b)   

Year	Proportion in “low wage”	Average minimum benefit
1940	0.024	$7.92 (2.39)
1950	0.040	$11.54 (3.11)
1960	0.120	$15.68 (6.22)
1970	0.127	$22.12 (9.31)
1980	0.012	$55.71 (36.66)
1990	0.023	$78.17 (54.95)

These estimates are based on the IPUMS samples drawn for this study.
The interpretations are as follows. First, among observed individual wages, in 1940, 38 percent of the sampled workers would “expect” to receive the state-mandated maximum weekly benefit if injured. Second, in 1980, the average maximum weekly payment across all states was $201.15.
^∗Standard deviations are in parentheses.