Are disabled workers a significant proportion of the working-age population?

Our economy needs skilled and able workers to deliver the goods and services we need locally and provide internationally.  When a worker becomes disabled through work injury or other cause, there is one less member of the working age population capable of and able to participate in the labour force. 

At any given time, there are workers off work because of a work-related injury, illness or occupational disease; other workers are out of the labor force due to non-work related causes.  Whether the cause is work-related or not, in most cases, disabling conditions resolve to the point where a worker is again able to return to work.  The remaining individual must live with an impairment that may be a significant barrier to continuing in the labor force.  This is not just an issue of an individual and his or her family having to bear physical and mental suffering, society losses the skills, knowledge and abilities of a proven human resource—something that can impact local communities and national economy. 

For worker covered by workers’ compensation, work-related financial impacts can be offset in part by temporary and permanent income compensation.  For all workers, there may be access to other social insurance programs such as US Social Security – Disability benefits and Canada Pension Plan – Disability benefits.

In the US, Social Security Disability (SS-D) benefits are available to workers who become disabled.  Most people who receive disability benefits are workers.  Of the 10,088,739 recipients of SS-D in December 2012, about 87.5% of them were workers.  Nearly $10 billion a month gets paid out to workers who must now depend on SS-D. 

We normally think of the labor force as being drawn from the resident population aged 18 to 64.  Restricting SS-D recipients to that same age range means there are 9.3 million Americans or 4.7% of the population aged 18 to 64 were on SS-D in 2012.  The vast majority of these SS-D beneficiaries were workers who are unable to work and contribute to building a vibrant economy. 

That 4.7% is an average for the whole country.  The distribution of SS-D recipients varies by state. The following table is derived from the Annual Statistical Report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program, 2012 [table 8]:

Number aged 18–64 as a percentage of the resident population aged 18–64,
by declining percentage by state, December 2012

	Resident population a	Beneficiaries
		Number	Percentage of resident population
West Virginia	1,159,423	104,406	9.0
Alabama	2,998,237	250,301	8.3
Arkansas	1,795,660	149,632	8.3
Kentucky	2,747,524	225,529	8.2
Mississippi	1,835,518	144,398	7.9
Maine	836,898	63,333	7.6
Tennessee	4,043,720	268,443	6.6
South Carolina	2,948,174	189,251	6.4
Missouri	3,735,332	235,374	6.3
Michigan	6,173,776	380,524	6.2
Louisiana	2,888,885	173,283	6.0
Vermont	403,616	24,198	6.0
New Hampshire	852,075	49,925	5.9
Rhode Island	675,189	39,715	5.9
Oklahoma	2,343,210	135,431	5.8
North Carolina	6,117,676	349,592	5.7
Indiana	4,056,709	221,264	5.5
Pennsylvania	7,981,289	438,294	5.5
Ohio	7,175,429	378,923	5.3
New Mexico	1,276,263	66,763	5.2
Delaware	571,568	28,909	5.1
Massachusetts	4,286,235	217,351	5.1
Florida	11,805,373	565,421	4.8
Montana	624,872	29,767	4.8
Wisconsin	3,584,341	173,441	4.8
United States	197,040,596	9,306,256	4.7
Georgia	6,290,121	295,892	4.7
Idaho	956,497	45,118	4.7
Kansas	1,767,332	80,876	4.6
Oregon	2,457,110	112,691	4.6
Iowa	1,880,928	84,657	4.5
New York	12,549,535	565,836	4.5
Virginia	5,266,625	227,060	4.3
Washington	4,403,628	185,482	4.2
Arizona	3,960,828	162,630	4.1
South Dakota	507,002	20,764	4.1
Illinois	8,116,753	321,189	4.0
Minnesota	3,373,224	135,566	4.0
Nebraska	1,134,766	45,737	4.0
Connecticut	2,264,077	89,371	3.9
New Jersey	5,587,651	215,599	3.9
Texas	16,234,269	610,238	3.8
Wyoming	365,414	13,556	3.7
Maryland	3,777,744	135,798	3.6
Nevada	1,734,434	62,961	3.6
North Dakota	444,354	15,680	3.5
District of Columbia	450,954	15,374	3.4
Colorado	3,342,983	108,554	3.2
California	24,201,126	762,133	3.1
Utah	1,695,896	50,916	3.0
Alaska	481,852	13,848	2.9
Hawaii	878,501	25,262	2.9

[Footnote to original table]  SOURCES: Social Security Administration, Master Beneficiary Record, 100 percent data; Census Bureau, 2012 resident population.

NOTE: Data exclude U.S. territories and other areas

Population estimates for the United States as of July 1, 2012, as reported by the Census Bureau.

CONTACT: (410) 965-0090 or statistics@ssa.gov

The profile of the average worker on SS-D in 2012 was a male (53%) average age was 53 receiving an average monthly benefit of $1,134.86. 

Not everyone on SS-D is there permanently, although many are.  You may have the image of a worker on SS-D as having catastrophic and permanent physical impairments.  Some recipients have disabilities that could be described that way but a third of them have a primary disability related to mental disorders.  Another 30% have a primary diagnosis related to “muskulo-skeletal and connective tissue”.   Some are expected to get better or for their medical disability to improve and allow a return to work; about 70,000 workers terminated their SS-D benefits for these reasons in 2012 [table 50 in the 2012 Annual Statistical Report]

Preventing injury that leads to permanent disability remains the number one priority but more needs to be done to prevent workers who develop or incur impairments from becoming permanently disabled.  Disability is largely a societal issue; the lack of accommodation, failure to foster resiliency and the inability (or resolve) to overcome systemic barriers are perhaps greater contributors to the mounting human and economic costs. 

I don’t know all the reasons for the wide disparity in SS-D recipient rates across states. Why, for example, does Virginia have an SS-D worker recipient rate that is less than half that of West Virginia?  No doubt some of the variation can be accounted for by the demographics of the state population.  Perhaps some states are more proactive in prevention and accommodation thus obviating the need for income support for SS-D.  If you have the answer, share it!  Post a comment or send me an email.