Research Projects
R1a: Employment and Economic Well-Being of People with and without Disabilities before and after the Great Recession
Authors: Gina Livermore and Todd Honeycutt
Abstract: The latest U.S. economic recession, commonly referred to as the Great Recession, has had a far-reaching impact, but its effects may be disproportionately experienced by working-age people with disabilities, given their already tenuous attachment to the labor force. We used data from the Current Population Survey both to describe the experiences of working-age people with disabilities during 2006–2012 (a period beginning before and ending after the Great Recession) and to compare the experiences of this population with those of working-age people without disabilities. Several key findings emerged. There were few significant differences in the characteristics of individuals with disabilities before and after the Great Recession. The employment rate of people with disabilities was low both before and after the recession, though the decline in employment among people with disabilities was somewhat greater than for people without disabilities. The employment declines observed during this period for people with disabilities reflect a long-term downward trend that has persisted for decades, raising concerns that people with disabilities are permanently exiting from the labor force. Job loss after the recession was particularly concentrated among people with disabilities in blue-collar and goods-producing jobs. People with and without disabilities experienced increases in poverty at similar rates. Continued surveillance of the characteristics and employment of people with disabilities is needed to identify trends and develop policies that will promote the independence and economic security of such individuals.
Status: Published Journal of Policy Studies, 2015, 26(2), pp. 70-79
https://doi-org.unh.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/1044207315583875
Presented at the Employment Measurement and Policy Rehabilitation Research and Training Center State of the Science Conference - Bethesda, MD - April 9, 2014 - View Presentation: Employment and Economic Well-Being of People with Disabilities Before and After the Great Recession
Presented at the Center for Studying Disability Policy Research Forum - Washington, DC - October 4, 2012 - View Presentation: Obstacles and Opportunities: The U.S. Economy, State VR Programs, and SSDI Beneficiaries
R1b: The Disability System and Programs to Promote Employment for People with Disabilities
Project Contacts: David Wittenburg, David Mann, and Allison Thompkins
This project increases knowledge about the interaction between programs to support individuals with disabilities, namely, the VR system and federal disability insurance programs. The VR system plays a major role in the efforts of many individuals with disabilities to become more economically self-sufficient, but is often criticized for what is perceived to be the limited success of its clients. Previous evidence has demonstrated that VR clients who are SSDI and/or SSI beneficiaries (“beneficiary clients”) do not fare as well after receiving VR services as those who are not SSA beneficiaries (“non-beneficiary clients”). This project builds upon the literature testing the hypothesis that the disincentives inherent in the SSDI program, namely the incentive to restrain earnings below the level of Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA), are an important reason for this difference.
Presented at the Center for Studying Disability Policy Forum - Washington, DC - September 17, 2014 - View Presentation: : Getting a Job, Keeping a Job: Services and Supports that Promote Employment Among People with Disabilities
R1c: Public Early Intervention Services & the Work-to-Benefits Transition
Project Contact: Todd Honeycutt
Federal/state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies offer services to individuals with disabilities that may help them remain in the labor force and avoid entering Social Security Administration (SSA) disability programs. We assess how the availability of VR services within an agency at the time an individual applies to receive VR services is related to subsequent application and receipt of SSA disability benefits. We find that individuals have a higher likelihood of subsequently applying for and receiving disability benefits when they apply in months that the VR agency serves a lower percentage of applicants or has a longer average wait for services.
Status: Published - The relationship between timely delivery of vocational rehabilitation services and subsequent federal disability benefit application and receipt
Presented at the Center for Studying Disability Policy Research Forum - Washington, DC - October 4, 2012 - View Presentation: Obstacles and Opportunities: The U.S. Economy, State VR Programs, and SSDI Beneficiaries
R1d: Return-to-Work Outcomes Among Social Security Disability Insurance Program Beneficiaries
Authors: Yonatan Ben-Shalom and Arif Mamun
Abstract: We follow a sample of working-age Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program beneficiaries for five years after their first benefit award to learn how certain factors help or hinder return-to-work outcomes. Return-to-work outcomes are measured as the achievement of four important milestones: first enrollment for employment services provided by a state vocational rehabilitation agency or employment network, start of trial work period (TWP), completion of TWP, and suspension or termination of benefits because of work. We use linked administrative data from the Social Security Administration and Rehabilitation Services Administration for the period covering 1996 to 2009. We use a linear probability model to estimate the relationship of achieving the return-to-work milestones with age at award, impairment type, other beneficiary characteristics, and national and state-level economic conditions at the time of award. We find that younger beneficiaries are more likely than older beneficiaries to achieve the return-to-work milestones within five years after award and that the likelihood of achieving the milestones varies substantially across impairment types. In addition, the probability of achieving the milestones is increased by having a greater number of years of education or being black and if there is lower state unemployment at the time of award. The probability of achieving the milestones is reduced by having a higher DI benefit amount at award, an award decision made at a higher adjudicative level, and if the beneficiary is receiving Supplemental Security Income or Medicare benefits at the time of DI award. Finally, we find large variation in the relationships between state of residence and return-to-work outcomes and between award month (January 1996 to December 2004) and return-to-work outcomes, even when accounting for observed beneficiary characteristics and state unemployment rates. We attribute these variations to unobserved factors at the state level, policy changes over time, and trends in the beneficiaries’ unobserved ability to work.
Status: Published - Return-to-Work Outcomes Among Social Security Disability Insurance Program Beneficiaries
Presented at the Center for Studying Disability Policy Forum - Washington, DC - September 17, 2014 - View Presentation: Return-to-Work Outcomes Among Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) Beneficiaries
R1e: Vocational Service Networks of Transition-Age Youth with Disabilities
This project is investigating the vocational service networks that youth with disabilities use to transition from school to work and assess whether those networks change when additional employment supports are introduced to supplement these services using data from the experimental evaluation of the SSA-funded Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) projects.
Status: Draft report under review
R1f. Medicaid/CHIP Expansion Interactions with SSI and Employment
Project Contact: Kosali Simon
This project addresses the potential outcomes of federal expansion of health insurance to low-income people via Medicaid on employment of people with disabilities by investigating the interaction between SSI (which provides Medicaid benefits and cash transfers) and the stand-alone Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program (henceforth referred to as Medicaid for brevity).
R1g: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status
Project Contact: Jody Schimmel Hyde
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is salient for workers with a disability because of their significant health care needs, relatively low incomes, and the complex interactions among work, federal disability benefits, and eligibility for public health insurance. Using data from the 2006–2010 National Health Interview Surveys, in this study, we document the characteristics and health insurance profiles of workers with a disability and consider the extent to which these factors are correlated with the ability to access adequate and timely health care. We find significantly higher rates of reported difficulties accessing timely health care for cost-related and structural reasons among employed adults with self-reported health conditions limiting the ability to work than among their non-work-limited peers, even after controlling for personal characteristics and health insurance coverage. The findings suggest that although the ACA will improve access to health insurance, it remains to be seen whether it will substantially reduce the likelihood that workers with disabilities will experience barriers to health care access relative to their non-disabled peers.
Status: Published - Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status; Will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Reforms Change the Landscape?
Presented at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference - Los Angeles, CA - June 25, 2014 - View Presentation: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape?
R1h: Higher Ed. Effects on the Employment of Individuals with Deafness
Project Contact: Richard Burkhauser
This project addresses the role that federal financing of higher education for hearing-impaired students via the Education of the Deaf Act (EDA) and the VR program plays in determining career success and reducing reliance on SSI and SSDI benefits.
R1i: Returns to Education among individuals with Early-Onset Disabilities
Project Contact: Andrew Houtenville and Le Wang
This project examines the relationship between the education of those with early-onset disabilities (that is, onset before completion of education) on adult employment and dependence on safety net programs.
R2a: Measuring Employment and Program Participation in Surveys
Authors: Andrew Houtenville, Debra Brucker
The purpose of this project is to (a) expand upon the literature to increase the understanding of the measurement of employment outcomes and program interactions between employment and safety-net programs and (b) support the adoption of a common set of employment measures across survey and administrative records.
Status: Published - Participation in Safety-Net Programs and the Utilization of Employment Services Among Working-Age Persons With Disabilities
Published - More Likely to Be Poor Whatever the Measure: Working-Age Persons with Disabilities in the United States
Presented at the Stanford Center for Poverty and Inequality New Scholars Conference, Stanford, CA - March 7, 2014 - View Presentation: Multidimensional poverty and safety net participation
Presented at Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management Annual Conference - Washington, DC - November 8, 2013 - Living on the edge: Estimating the potential impact of reductions in Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income benefits on beneficiaries
Presented at Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Annual Conference - Washington, DC - November 4, 2011 - View Presentation: Safety Net Program Participation For Working Age Persons With Disabilities
Presented at the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics State of the Science Conference - Bethesda, MD - April 23, 2012 - View Presentation: Safety net and employment services participation for low-income working age persons with disabilities
Presented at the Southern Economic Association Annual Meeting - Washington, DC - November 16, 2011 - View Presentation: Program participation after job loss and the role of disability
Presented at the Mathematica Policy Forum webinar Number 15: Federal Spending for People with Disabilities: Continuing Society's Commitment While Reducing the Deficit - June 8, 2011 - View Presentation: Safety net program participation for working-age persons with disabilities
R2b: Comparing Survey and Administrative Employment Measures
Project Contact: David Wittenburg, Ph.D.
This project compares survey responses of SSDI and SSI beneficiaries on employment with employment measures based on earnings reported to the IRS and how sensitive the comparison is to the context of the survey.
R2c: ADA and Measuring Job Characteristics and Requirements
Project Contact: Doug Kruse
This project addresses the low employment and earnings levels of people with disabilities by using a new approach to measure the discriminatory component of wage differentials associated with disability.
R2d: Measuring Modifications, Accommodations, and Ongoing Supports
Project Contact: Vidya Sundar
This project develops and tests a short set of survey questions—MAS-Q-VR. The end product will be a short set of questions to solicit information on workplace adjustments that could be (a) included in surveys of VR clients, and (b) after further testing on the general population of people with disabilities (that is, development
of MAS-Q without VR), included in surveys such as the CPS, SIPP, and future national disability surveys.