Work

The Fraction of Disability Caused at Work

Year: 2008

Type: book-chapter

Abstract: Disability has high societal and personal costs. Various disparate federal and state programs attempt to address the economic and social needs of people with disabilities. Presumably workplace injuries and accidents are an important source of disability. Yet separate public policies and research literatures have evolved for these two social problems--disability and workplace injuries--despite their relatedness. This article seeks to document the overlap between these two phenomena in estimating the proportion of the disabled population whose disability was caused by workplace injury, accident, or illness using the Health and Retirement Study of 1992. The results point toward the need for initiatives to reduce disability that focus on work-related causes, which are a common pathway to disability, and that may result in substantial savings in federal programs.

DOI: 10.17848/9781435667419.ch5

Authors: Robert T. Reville, Robert F. Schoeni

Institutions: RAND Corporation, University of Michigan

Language: English

Topic: Retirement, Disability, and Employment

Subfield: Demography

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Decent work and economic growth, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: gold