Disability and work: Lessons from the private sector

The human and social costs of disability are well known, and increases in the number of beneficiaries and in expenditures are both causes of concern. The real economic cost of disability, namely, the lost production from individuals not at work, has been growing rapidly in recent years. Nominal, or budget, outlays have also been increasing as private and public payments for disability benefits have soared in the last 20 years. Using a nonrandom sample, a recent study estimated that employers were paying 8 percent of payroll for disability-related expenses, including both direct and indirect costs of disability (Che-lius, Galvin, and Owens 1992). At the same time, a very specific issue has arisen in the Social Sec