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Contact Information

For questions pertaining to the data, please send an e-mail to eedata_sc@ssa.gov, or contact Greg Diez at 410-965-0153 or Bill Kearns at 410-965-6750. To obtain additional copies of this report, please call the Division of Information Resources at 202-358-6274 or e-mail op.publications@ssa.gov.

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Highlights 1996

• In 1996, 143.5 million workers had earnings covered under the Social Security program. About 129.6 million had only wages, 8.4 million had only self-employment income, and 5.5 million had both.
• Taxable earnings of $3.08 trillion, which includes earnings up to the taxable maximum of $62,700, represented an increase of 5.3% over the previous year.
• Social Security taxes--including Medicare taxes for Social Security covered workers--totaled $486 billion.
• Men comprised 53.1% of covered workers; women 46.9%. Ten years earlier (1986) the distribution of workers was 54.9% and 45.1%, respectively.
• Black workers accounted for 11.2% of the workforce in 1996--10.2% of employed men and 12.4% of employed women.

Foreword

In 1996, 143.5 million workers had earnings covered by the Social Security program. This report presents earnings and employment for these workers by the state and county of their residence.

The data show selected characteristics (sex, age, and race), the number of wage and salary workers and self-employed persons, the amount of their taxable earnings, and the amount they paid in Social Security and Medicare contributions. The information in this publication is a rich data source for researchers and policymakers who are interested in the demography of earnings in the United States and also for those interested in studying the primary revenue source for the Social Security (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) program. When coupled with the Social Security Administration publication OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, these data are valuable for studying the impact that the Social Security program has on a state or county, and are used for this purpose in academia, private industry, and state governments.

This publication was prepared in the Division of Earnings Statistics and Analysis. The data programming and processing were carried out by Greg Diez, Shirley Piazza, Allyson Ross, Cres Smith, and Bev Smith. This and other publications on the Social Security program are available on our Web site at www.ssa.gov/policy.

Table of Contents

The following files are available for this document in the given formats:

Other Editions of this Publication

Next Expected Update

February 2004

Other Editions

• Earnings and Employment Data for Workers Covered Under Social Security and Medicare, by State and County, 2000 (released September 2003)
• Earnings and Employment Data for Workers Covered Under Social Security and Medicare, by State and County, 1999 (released January 2003)
• Earnings and Employment Data for Workers Covered Under Social Security and Medicare, by State and County, 1998 (released December 2001)
• Earnings and Employment Data for Workers Covered Under Social Security and Medicare, by State and County, 1997 (released March 2001)
• Earnings and Employment Data for Workers Covered Under Social Security, by State and County, 1996 (released January 2000)
• Earnings and Employment Data for Workers Covered Under Social Security, by State and County, 1995 (released July 1998)