Disabled-worker beneficiaries under OASDI: comparison with severely disabled PA recipients

The 1972 Survey of Disabled and Nondisabled Adults found that more than 1 million severely disabled persons aged 20-64 were receiving payments under Federal-State public assistance programs. To determine the reasons why most of these individuals did not qualify for disabled-worker benefits under the social security program, their characteristics were compared with those of the approximately 1.5 million disabled-worker beneficiaries. The public assistance recipients were found to be younger and less well educated than their disabled-worker beneficiary counterparts. A greater proportion of them were women and more were members of minority races. Public assistance recipients became disabled at an earlier age and had been disabled longer. Compared with disabled-worker beneficiaries, they had held less skilled jobs, had earned less money, and had had a weaker attachment to the labor force. These characteristics greatly reduced their chances of qualifying for disabled-worker benefits. Lack of knowledge about the program was also an important contributing factor.