- Who is a reporter?
Any person where the input variable AFDC > 0 and the variable AllocFlagPublicAssistanceType is not equal to 1 (i.e. the receipt is not allocated by Census), is considered to be a reporter. In addition, if the input variable LastOtherSource is equal to 3 (i.e. source is AFDC), the person is considered a reporter. However, if a variable is specified in the rule AllocFlag665, then if that variable indicates that the entire supplemental part of the CPS survey was allocated, the person is not considered to be a reporter, regardless of the results of the previous tests.
- What is a reporter unit?
In most parts of the TRIM3 simulation of TANF, it is necessary to know if a person’s unit reports, rather than whether a particular person reports. Furthermore, it’s not enough to know that the unit reported sometime during the year…TRIM3 needs to know which months the unit reported. The method used by TRIM3 to make these determinations is as follows:
A unit is only considered to be reporting if at least one person in the unit is considered a reporter (see "Who is a reporter?" above). All persons in the unit are considered, even if they are not simulated to be an eligible member of the unit. The total amount of these reported benefits for the unit is stored in the output variable AmountOfTANFUnitReports. Note that reported benefits are counted even if the amount was allocated.
- How many months did the unit report?
- Which months did the unit report?
Having identified such a unit, TRIM3 next determines how many months to assign reporter status to. This corresponds to the number of months reported (via the variable LastPublicAssistanceMonths) by the reporter in the unit who has the highest number of non-allocated (i.e. variable AllocFlagMonthsOfPublicAssist not = 1) reporting months. If no one has non-allocated reporting months, then this corresponds to the reporter with the highest number of allocated months. Again, the person's simulated eligibility status in the unit is not taken into account. If none of the reporters report any months, then the unit is assumed to report for all 12 months. The result of this determination is stored in the output variable NumberOfMonthsUnitReports.
Finally, TRIM3 must decide which months to assign reporter status to. Those months with the lowest income are chosen as reporter months until a number equal to NumberOfMonthsUnitReports have been chosen. The income used to determine the lowest months is the gross income of the entire family, including members who are not part of the filing unit. When choosing between months with the same income, a random selection is performed. The result of this process is stored in the monthly result variable IsReporterThisMonth.
TRIM3 ©2012