In a prior blog post on updating the vocational standards for Social Security disability benefits eligibility, I cited an empirical analysis showing that in the years since the beginning of the pandemic, employment among people with disabilities has risen due to a widespread shift to remote working in many occupations. The employment increase is unsurprising, as working from home offers numerous benefits for individuals with various mental and physical disabilities. By eliminating long commutes, enjoying a quiet and controlled home workplace, and other telework accommodations, they can engage in more consistent and productive work. Now, another study, using a different data set and methodology, finds the same result.

Economic researchers at the Boston College Center for Retirement Research, Siyan Liu and Laura Quinby, in their recent study, singled out the increased availability of remote work as the main factor explaining the post-pandemic rise in employment among older people with disabilities. In particular, Liu and Quinby ruled out factors such as the tighter labor market recently, particularly for low-wage jobs, and the increase in reported mental disability in surveys (which may reflect a lower average severity of disabilities compared to the past). Instead, their findings show that the growth in teleworkable jobs from 2018 to 2022 led to a 10-percent increase in the employment rate among older people with disabilities. This was because remote work encouraged some older people with disabilities to reenter the workforce and enabled others to switch jobs instead of leaving employment altogether.

Liu and Quinby use the 2012–2022 Health and Retirement Study longitudinal data to contrast the employment gains for disabled older workers in jobs amenable to remote work with those that require in-person presence, after controlling for changes in the severity of those reporting disability and labor market tightness. The results show that nearly all post-pandemic employment gains for older non-retired people (ages 51 to 64) with disabilities have occurred in teleworkable occupations, even after controlling for other factors. In contrast, older workers without disabilities experienced slightly lower employment rates post-pandemic, with many opting for early retirement, and showed no statistically significant difference in their rates of remote working versus traditional jobs.

To more carefully delineate which groups of disabled people benefitted the most from the change in working conditions, Liu and Quinby compared the percentage change in the employment rates for off-site jobs across four groups: whether individuals had been employed in the past four years and whether they had prior experience in teleworkable jobs. In particular, those who had not worked recently and lacked experience in remote work saw no improvement and remained out of the workforce. In contrast, individuals with prior experience in teleworkable jobs but who had not worked recently saw an 18-percent increase in employment. The third group—those who had worked recently but not in teleworkable jobs—also saw an 18-percent employment increase by transitioning into teleworkable roles. This demonstrates the adaptability and flexibility of older workers with disabilities. The fourth group—those recently working in teleworkable jobs—did not experience much of an employment gain.

These new findings have several policy implications.  First, the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) efforts to encourage applications for disability benefits, in response to the recent drop in claims, may be a waste of taxpayer resources, as this research indicates that more disabled people are choosing to work. Second, the research highlights the importance of SSA having up-to-date information on vocational conditions when it evaluates disability claims. Granting a claim based on outdated standards that assume nearly all jobs must be performed in person at the employer’s workplace under strict conditions, is clearly a mistake—harming both the claimant and the taxpayer. And, third, the research finding adaptability and flexibility among older, mainly low-wage, disabled workers shows the mistake in the current disability policy’s presumption that older workers cannot adapt to new types of work and conditions and must therefore get extra-favorable treatment in the evaluation of whether the claimant can continue to work.

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