America's Looming Disability Income Security Crisis

America's Looming Disability Income Security Crisis (PDF) - Contact AHIP to see the full report
Cornell Report Policy Brief (PDF)

There is a looming financial crisis for workers with disabilities and the public programs that serve them, according to a new report from Cornell University.

The report, Income Security for Workers: A Stressed Support System in Need of Innovation, prepared by researchers at Cornell University and Mathematica Policy Research, found that household incomes of workers with disabilities are declining, especially relative to the incomes of those without work limitations. The report also highlights fiscal stress on the public safety net upon which disabled workers and their families rely.

Key findings from the research include:

• Inflation-adjusted household incomes of working-age people with disabilities are falling, both absolutely and, especially, relative to incomes of those without disabilities.
• Disabled workers are permanently leaving the workforce in greater and greater numbers – swelling the public disability rolls.
• The significant growth in the number of older workers is accompanied by an equally significant surge in disability. These trends will lead to crisis in the public programs that serve the disabled.

Federal and state governments have launched initiatives to increase the employment and self-sufficiency of people with disabilities. Although these initiatives might, in time, bring program improvement and cost reductions, they will not bring relief soon enough to avert the looming crisis.

Changes in public policy that facilitate the application of private sector tools and competencies to improving public disability program administration and outcomes may be the most effective and expeditious way to bring urgently needed relief to the disability safety net.