How Do Age and Disability Benefit Programs Interact?

As workers age, they are more likely to suffer an injury or disability that will trigger their eligibility for one or more benefit programs. Older workers are “less prone to injuries resulting from traumatic events,” such as falls or other accidents. However, they “are more prone to impairments associated with aging, including heart disease and back conditions.” The older workers “take longer to heal and have greater impairments resulting from injuries and may experience more restricted mobility in the labor maker as a result of occupational disabilities.”

This has important consequences for the economy and for employers as an ever-growing share of the work force moves into middle age and beyond.

Work disability—limitation in the type of work someone can do, or restrictions on the amount of time the person can spend on the job—rises sharply with age. Among workers between ages 25 and 34, just 6% had a work disability. But the figure jumps to 22% for workers between the ages of 55 and 64.

The country is entering a period when the size of the younger work force will be stable, while the pool of older workers expands enormously. This is happening because of the aging of the baby boom generation, the Americans born in the years from 1946 through 1964. They are 76 million strong, the largest cohort in American history, with a profound impact on the economy and the culture.

For more information on how age and disability benefit program interact, see:

• Workers' Compensation and Older Workers, Health and Income Security Brief No. 3
• Ensuring Health and Income Security for an Aging Workforce, Health and Income Secuirty for an Aging Workforce Brief No. 1
• Balancing Security and Opportunity: The Challenge of Disability Income Policy, Report of the Disability Policy Panel, Chapters 1, 5, and 10