Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program, Implementation ...

148Figure IX.3. Earnings of Beneficiaries with Any Earnings in the Year Prior to TicketEligibility3530Percent of Beneficiaries2520151050Less Than 1,000 3,000-3,999 6,000-6,999 9,000-9,999 12,000-12,999 15,000 or MoreAnnual Earnings Before Eligibility (dollars)2001 2002Source: Ticket Research File and SSA Summary Earnings Record.Table IX.4 compares selected demographic characteristics of individuals in the lowannual earnings group with those of beneficiaries who had higher earnings and with thosewho had no earnings in the year before they received a Ticket. 5 None of the differences aredramatic. Beneficiaries with low annual earnings are slightly less likely than are beneficiarieswith no earnings to receive only DI benefits, and they are much less likely than beneficiarieswith higher annual earnings to receive only DI benefits. Furthermore, beneficiaries with lowannual earnings are, on average, somewhat younger than both other beneficiaries who earnmore and those who had no earnings.Beneficiaries with earnings are much more likely than those without earnings in theprior year to assign their Tickets (Table IX.5). For both those with low earnings and thosewith higher earnings, assignment rates in all phases are approximately three times as high asfor those without earnings. The presence or absence of earnings in the previous year doesnot appear to make a substantial difference in whether beneficiaries assign their Tickets to anEN or SVRA (Table IX.6). Overall, it appears that having low earnings in the year prior toreceiving a Ticket does not seem to be a barrier to Ticket assignment.5 Because the data used to select the low earnings group come from a different time period than the dataused to select AOI groups 1 and 2, we cannot compare the former group with the latter two.IX: Adequacy of Incentives