New Trends in Disability, Work, and Federal Disability Programs

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

In 2022, one in four adults in the United States (over 70 million) reported having a disability, and the share of adults living with disability is expected to grow over the next several decades. Nuanced and inclusive data and analysis are needed to meet the policy needs of this diverse and complex group. Yet, what we know about trends in disability measurement, participation in the labor force among people with disabilities, and federal disability programs has been limited by the constraints of traditional data sources and methods. This panel advances research on disability and federal disability programs in the United States by leveraging new data sources and techniques to answer novel questions about disability measurement, labor force participation among adults with disabilities in light of work-from-home policies, the link between neighborhood characteristics and SSDI/SSI applications and awards, and the intergenerational impact of SSI receipt. 

In the first paper, Stephanie Rennane (RAND) uses novel survey data to compare and assess the extent of overlap between the populations captured by a self-identification disability question with populations captured by commonly used survey questions about a person’s functional limitations, finding that using these questions together could both expand the population measured with disabilities and enhance identification of the subgroup with highest needs. In the second paper, Matthew Forbes (RAND) conducts a shift-share analysis to describe how work-from home policies impact disabled employment and what regions stand the most to gain from adopting WFH policies. In the third paper, Stipica Mudrazija (University of Washington) matches restricted data from the 2000-2018 Health and Retirement Study with data from the National Neighborhood Data Archive and conducts a factor analysis and Heckman selection model to assess the link of various place-specific factors with SSDI/SSI applications and awards. In the fourth paper, Ryan Parsons and William Moffatt (University of Mississippi) use inverse probability weighting with Add Health data to demonstrate that children of SSI recipients fare worse than the general population in a range of mobility outcomes. Together, these papers shed light on new trends in disability, work, and federal disability programs while also acting as compelling use-cases for novel data and methods which can be used to develop transformative policy solutions for persons with disability in the United States.

Policy Area

• Poverty and Income Policy

Secondary Policy Area

• Employment and Training Programs

Chair

• Samsun Naher, University of Washington

Discussants

• Callie Freitag, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Lucie G. Schmidt, Smith College

Organizer

• Callie Freitag, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Individual Presentations

• A Comparative Analysis of Self-Identification and Functional Measures of Disability - Presenting Author: Stephanie Rennane, RAND Corporation

• Work from Home and Disability Employment: A Shift-Share Analysis - Presenting Author: Matthew Bryan Forbes, RAND School of Public Policy

• Neighborhood Characteristics, Disablement, and Disability Applications and Awards - Presenting Author: Stipica Mudrazija, University of Washington

• The Effects of Safety Net Program Participation on Achievement Measures - Presenting Author: Katie Pullom, University of Pennsylvania