SSA DISABILITY. SGA Levels Appear to Affect the Work Behavior of Relatively Few Beneficiaries, but More Data Needed.

摘要

The Social Security Administration's (SSA) Disability Insurance program is the primary federal income program for workers with disabilities, paying about $50 billion in cash benefits to over 5 million disabled workers in 2000. Eligibility for Disability Insurance benefits is based on whether a person with a severe physical or mental impairment has earnings that exceed the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) level, which represents SSA's principal standard for determining whether a disabled individual is able to work. SSA terminates monthly cash benefit payments for beneficiaries who return to work (after completing a trial work period) and have earnings that exceed the SGA level, set at $1,300 per month for blind beneficiaries and at $780 per month for all other beneficiaries in 2002. Our work found that the SGA level affects the work patterns of only a small proportion of Disability Insurance beneficiaries. On average, about 32,000, or 7.4 percent, of those Disability Insurance beneficiaries who worked in any given year during the period 1985 through 1997 had earnings between 75 and 100 percent of the annualized SGA level. These beneficiaries comprised about 1 percent of all Disability Insurance beneficiaries. The proportion of Disability Insurance workers with earnings in this range of the SGA remained relatively small even as the total number of Disability Insurance beneficiaries who worked grew by almost 80 percent from 1985 to 1997. Even among those beneficiaries who have earnings near the SGA level in any given year, most experience a substantial decline in earnings over time. For example, almost half of those with earnings near the SGA level in 1985 had no earnings by 1989. However, our work also found evidence that the SGA may affect the earnings of some beneficiaries. About 13 percent of those beneficiaries with earnings near the SGA level in 1985 still had earnings near the SGA level in 1995, even though the level was increased during that period.