85,000 Americans went on disability benefit in June (while only 80,000 jobs were added in same period)And it's not a one-month fluke. As Investor's Business Daily reports, it's a trend:
While the economy has created 2.6 million jobs since June 2009, fully 3.1 million workers signed up for disability benefits.I suppose some of this is our aging population. The baby boom is in the red zone for disability claims - old, but not old enough for Medicare and Social Security based on age alone.
But a lot of it is the unemployment situation. People can't find a job they want to do, or possibly any job at all. Their unemployment benefits run out. And if they have a condition that might qualify, they go through the hassle of applying for disability benefits. They wouldn't have done that if they had a job, or unemployment insurance, but... they don't.
I've known "disabled" people who could, in fact, have been doing productive work. Not all, but definitely some.
It's a bad trend.
When will it end?
2 comments:
This is a huge issue. I didn't know how much disabled Veteran's get from the VA until I started working with them. Between VA and SS they can bring in $4,000 per month tax free. Where is the incentive to get better? In fact, it behooves them to 'stay sick'.
Wow. I recently read that there had been a surge in veterans, in particular, applying for disability benefits. I didn't realize the money could be so good.
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