Government spends more on disability than food stamps and welfare combined – and does a lousy job of it.
“Since the economy began its slow, slow recovery in late 2009, we’ve been averaging about 150,000 jobs created per month,” said Joffe-Walt in an Public Radio International (PRI) “This American Life” interview. “In that same period every month, almost 250,000 people have been applying for disability.”
In some parts of the country, such as Hale County, Alabama, one out of every four working-age adults collects a disability check
As of 2011, 33.8% of newly diagnosed disabled workers cited “back pain and other musculoskeletal problems” as their reason for being unable to work. In 1961, the top reason for being disabled was “heart disease, stroke”
Disabled workers do not get counted in the unemployment figures. If they did, the numbers would be far higher
“That’s a kind of ugly secret of the American labor market,” said MIT economist David Autor. “Part of the reason our unemployment rates have been low, until recently, is that a lot of people who would have trouble finding jobs are on a different program.”
Joffe-Walt says disability has “become a de facto welfare program for people without a lot of education or job skills.” The reporter notes that the disability program “wasn’t supposed to serve this purpose; it’s not a retraining program designed to get people back onto their feet.”
According to Social Security chief actuary Steve Goss, disability insurance program reserves will run out of money in 2016.
I understand that people who can no longer collect unemployment have developed back troubles in order to make ends meet.
And the Dems are happy with that, because it makes the unemployment numbers look better, and it creates a whole new dependency group.
Discuss.