RECORD 10,978,O40 NOW ON DISABILITY; 'DISABILITY' WOULD BE THE MOST POPULOUS STATE

Record 10,978,040 Now on Disability; ‘Disability’ Would Be 8th Most Populous State

May 29, 2013 - 9:52 AM

By Terence P. Jeffrey


Ohio

(Wikimedia Commons)

(CNSNews.com) - The total number of people in the United States now receiving federal disability benefits hit a record 10,978,040 in May, up from 10,962,532 million in April, according to newly released data from the Social Security Administration.

The 10,978,040 disability beneficiaries in the United States now exceed the population of all but seven states. For example, there are more Americans collecting disability today than there are people living in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey or Virginia.

The record 10,978,040 total disability beneficiaries in May, included a record 8,877,921 disabled workers (up from 8,865,586 in April), a record 1,939,687 children of disabled workers (up from 1,936,236 in April), and 160,432 spouses of disabled workers.

May was the 196th straight month that the number of American workers collecting federal disability payments increased. The last time the number of Americans collecting disability decreased was in January 1997. That month the number of workers taking disability dropped by 249 people—from 4,385,623 in December 1996 to 4,385,374 in January 1997.

As the overall number of American workers collecting disability has increased, the ratio of full-time workers to disability-collecting workers has decreased.

In December 1968, 1,295,428 American workers collected disability and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 65,630,000 worked full-time. Thus, there were about 51 full-time workers for each worker collecting disability. In May 2013, with a record 8,877,921 American workers collecting disability and 116,053,000 working full-time, there were only 13 Americans working full-time for each worker on disability.

According to the latest Census Bureau population estimates, if disability were a state in the union it would rank eighth in population, coming in after Ohio but ahead of Georgia:

1. California 38,041,430

2. Texas 26,059,203

3. New York 19,570,261

4. Florida 19,317,568

5. Illinois 12,875,255

6. Pennsylvania 12,763,536

7. Ohio 11,544,225

8. Disability 10,978,040

9. Georgia 9,919,945