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Inaugural Brief from Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy Highlights Earnings and Work Expectations of Social Security Disability Beneficiaries
Contact: Gina Livermore, (202) 264-3462, or
Cheryl Pedersen, (609) 275-2258
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 16, 2008)—The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 prompted changes in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs to help beneficiaries get and stay employed. The first brief in a new series from the Center for Studying Disability Policy at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., highlights the extent to which SSI and SSDI beneficiaries are working or trying to return to work. It also examines their interest in increasing their earnings and self-sufficiency, as well as the challenges they face.
Highlights from the brief include the following:
- Overall, nine percent of working-age beneficiaries were employed at the time they were interviewed in 2004; another six percent had been seeking work during the previous four weeks.
- Of those who were working, only 21 percent worked full time (35 or more hours per week). Most (69 percent) earned less than $8 per hour.
- On average, employed beneficiaries earned $622 per month, and median job duration was 26 months.
- About one-third of working-age beneficiaries reported using services during the previous year (2003)intended to help them work or to live independently.
- Overall, 40 percent indicated that their personal goals included getting a job, moving up in a job, or learning new job skills.
Data for the brief was drawn from the 2004 Beneficiary Survey, a nationally representative survey of more than 7,500 SSI and SSDI beneficiaries ages 18 to 64, conducted as part of Mathematica’s multi-year evaluation of the Ticket to Work program.
“The findings imply that large numbers of beneficiaries (about 4 million) are interested in working and might benefit from policies designed to promote employment,” said Gina Livermore, author of the brief and a senior researcher at Mathematica. “The challenge for policymakers is to effectively address the disincentives and barriers that stand between beneficiaries and their employment goals.”
The Center for Studying Disability Policy supplies the nation's policymakers with the information they need to navigate the transition to 21st-century disability policy. It was established in 2007 by Mathematica to inform disability policy formation with rigorous, objective research and data collected from the people disability policy aims to serve. For more information on the Center for Studying Disability Policy, go to www.disabilitypolicyresearch.org.
Mathematica, a nonpartisan research firm, conducts high quality, objective policy research and surveys to improve public well-being. Its clients include federal and state governments, foundations, and private-sector and international organizations. The employee-owned company, with offices in Princeton, N.J., Washington, D.C., Cambridge, Mass., and Ann Arbor, Mich., has conducted some of the most important studies of health care, education, welfare, employment, nutrition, and early childhood policies and programs in the U.S.