Income at Risk: Unemployment Skyrockets for Those with Disabilities

Unemployment for people with disabilities has reached its highest rate since January, according to a quarterly study by Allsup. At the same time, the Allsup Disability Study: Income at Risk shows the number of people applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits continues to climb.

Specifically, the third-quarter Allsup study shows unemployment averaged 16.1 percent for people with disabilities, compared to 9.3 percent for people with no disabilities, according to non-seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Over time, the study shows people with disabilities consistently experience higher rates of unemployment. Monthly unemployment rates for people with disabilities during the third quarter ranged from 15.1 percent (July) to 16.9 percent (August). These are the highest monthly unemployment rates reported since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) began reporting data on unemployment rates for people with disabilities last October. Monthly unemployment rates for people with no disabilities, in comparison, ranged from 9.2 percent to 9.5 percent during the third quarter. BLS also reported that during September, more than two-thirds of the unemployed (36 percent) had been jobless for 27 weeks or more.

The Allsup Disability Study: Income at Risk shows that the number of people with disabilities unable to work and applying for SSDI continues to climb. Disability applications rose to more than 733,000 in third quarter 2009. This is up just 1 percent from the second quarter. However, year-to-date there has been a 23-percent increase in initial disability applications compared to year-to-date 2008.

“Applying for SSDI is not a quick or easy experience,” said Paul Gada of Allsup. “It’s important for people to learn if they meet the criteria and apply as early as possible, with hopes of reducing their wait to begin receiving monthly SSDI benefits.”