Employment among Social Security disability program beneficiaries, 1996-2007.

We use linked administrative data from program and earnings records to summarize the 2007 employment rates of Social Security disability program beneficiaries at the national and state levels, as well as changes in employment since 1996. The findings provide new information on the employment activities of beneficiaries that should be useful in assessing current agency policies and providing benchmarks for ongoing demonstration projects and future return-to-work initiatives. The overall employment rate--which we define as annual earnings over $1,000--was 12 percent in 2007. Substantial variation exists within the population. Disability Insurance beneficiaries and those younger than age 40 were much more likely to work relative to other Social Security beneficiaries. Additionally, substantial regional variation exists across states; employment rates ranged from 7 percent (West Virginia) to 23 percent (North Dakota). Moreover, we find that the employment rates among beneficiaries were sensitive to the business cycle and persistent over time.

Promoting Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE): Early Impacts from a Multi-Site Random Assignment Evaluation.

BACKGROUND: PROMISE was a federal initiative to support youth receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) during the transition to adulthood. OBJECTIVES: This article presents estimates of the impacts of the six PROMISE projects on youth and family outcomes as of 18 months after enrolling in PROMISE. RESEARCH DESIGN: The study uses a randomized controlled trial design. SUBJECTS: The six PROMISE projects each enrolled a minimum of 2000 treatment and control youth (and their parents) residing in their service areas who were aged 14 to 16 and receiving SSI. MEASURES: We estimated impacts on outcomes related to youth and family service use, school enrollment, training, employment, earnings, and federal disability program participation using survey and administrative data. RESULTS: The projects succeeded in connecting more youth to transition services and more families to support services during the 18 months after enrollment, and most increased the likelihood that youth applied for state vocational rehabilitation services. On average, there was no impact on youth's school enrollment, but there were favorable impacts on youth's receipt of job-related training, employment, earnings, and total income. The projects did not affect parents' employment, earnings, or income, on average. For most outcomes PROMISE affected, the impacts varied substantially across the projects. CONCLUSIONS: The positive short-term impacts of PROMISE on youth's use of transition services, youth employment, and families' use of services are consistent with the program logic model and suggest there might be potential for longer-term favorable impacts on youth and family outcomes.