Disability and Income

Abstract

It has long been recognized that people with disabilities usually have less earnings than workers who do not have disabilities. The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)-911 data for 2012 were examined to determine the “true” income of workers with disabilities. The 2012 database included 579,312 cases closed during that year. The benefits and earnings of the whole data set and of 17 disability groups were examined. That is, the amount of earnings (at application for Vocational Rehabilitation [VR] services and at case closure) were combined with the amount of benefits to determine (a) whether total income increased from application for VR services to case closure, (b) the proportion of total income from benefits versus earnings, and (c) how total income for these consumers compared with the poverty level. Overall, those data revealed a 326% increase in total income from application to closure. At application, the proportion of total monthly income from earnings was 42%, whereas at closure, it had shifted to 83% of total income from earnings. Income relative to the poverty threshold was 57% for all clients at application, but had increased to 185% at closure. Results are also provided for each of the 17 disability groups.