Disability - Disabled Workers On The Rise

Tracking the number of disabled workers receiving Social Security disability benefits is one way to gauge the disability status of adults in the U.S. It should be noted, however, that not all disabled adults have work experience, a requirement for disability benefits through the Social Security Administration. Nor do all disabled workers received disability benefits⁶. Figures on the number of Social Security Disability Beneficiaries are used to assess a trend, not by way of counting all disabled workers or all disabled adults. The subject of employment among the disabled will be covered in another panel.

The graph presents the number of workers on disability benefits (bars) and the total employment in the non-farm sector (curve). The patterns produced by these two series are very similar. Both rise dramatically over the period 1970 through 2001. Civilian Employment rose by 71%. The number of workers receiving disability benefits rose by 253%. If we express disability as disabled workers per 1,000 workers, the increase was 107%. In 1970 there were 19 disability beneficiaries for every 1,000 workers in the civilian labor force. In 2001 there were 39.

It might be assumed that the aging of the workforce may be a factor in the increasing numbers of disabled workers. Disability, after all, rises with increased age. But the average age of disabled workers actually fell during this period. In 1970 the average age of a disabled worker was 52 years. In 2000 it had fallen to 49 years.

The number of disabled workers per 1,000 receiving benefits has risen most sharply during the 1990s. It rose 54% over the 11-year period 1990 through 2001, from 26 per 1,000 to 39. Why this increase? More specifically, why this increase following legislation⁷ de- signed to assist disabled people to participate fully in society and more specifically for disabled workers to stay on the job or attain work suitable to their disabilities?

A look at the sorts of disabling conditions that lead a worker to apply for disability benefits may be helpful in understanding the sharply rising numbers of disabled workers.

A look at the educational level of disabled workers may be useful as well. According to some analysts, Social Security disability insurance is becoming an alternative to unemployment for the less educated in the labor force. According to Morley White, an administrative judge who rules on disability claims, when you've lost your low skill job, can't find another and are sitting around on the sofa, you might easily become preoccupied with ailments. The ailments "do qualify in many cases as legal disability but while you were working did not come into your mind."⁸ This situation is probably exacerbated by the fact that as you sit on your sofa and watch TV, you are bombarded by pharmaceutical industry advertisements reminding you of the many possible ailments for which they can provide a cure. In the past, many less educated employees⁹ would have worked through injuries or chronic pain. Now, they often choose to apply for disability benefits instead.

The next panels will address these matters further by looking at (1) disabling conditions for which workers are being awarded benefits and, (2) the level of education of beneficiaries.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Social Security Beneficiary Statistics, "Number of beneficiaries receiving benefits on December 31, 1970-2001, available online at http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/OASDIbenies.html. Uchitelle, Louis. "Laid-off Workers Swelling the Cost of Disability Pay" The New York Times, September 2, 2002, p. 1.