The Social Security Disability Program and Labor Force Participation
(259 K)
|
NBER Working Paper No. 392
Issued in August 1979
In the last twenty years the labor force participation rates of 45 to 54-year-old men have fallen 10.6 percentage points among non-whites and 4.4 percentage points among whites. I find that nearly half of this puzzling decline can be explained by the growth of the Social Security Disability program. By 1975, 6.22% of the prime-age non-white men and 3.57% of the white men were Social Security Disability beneficiaries. Despite the medical screening of applicants, I find in cross-section estimates an elasticity of .35 for beneficiary status with respect to benefit levels. As eligibility requirements have eased and as benefit levels have increased relative to earnings more men have dropped out of the labor force and become Social Security Disability beneficiaries.
This paper is available as PDF (259 K) or via email.
Machine-readable bibliographic record -
MARC,
RIS,
BibTeX
|
|
|
About
Support
The research activities of the NBER are funded by grants from federal research agencies, by private foundations, and by generous donations from our corporate associates and from private individuals. The NBER is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. For information on supporting the NBER, please contact:
Mr. Denis Healy, Director of Development
NBER
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138-5398
ph: 617-868-3900
email: dhealy@nber.org
Close
