A weak overall job report at the end of the first quarter overshadowed the grim outlook for people with disabilities. The Allsup Disability Study: Income at Risk found that people with disabilities experienced an unemployment rate approximately 65 percent higher than for those with no disabilities in the first quarter of 2013. Allsup has conducted the quarterly study since 2009. The study is available at http://www.allsup.com/Portals/4/allsup-study-income-at-risk-q1-13.pdf.
The unemployment rate averaged 13 percent for people with disabilities and 7.9 percent for people with no disabilities during the first quarter of 2013. This is an increase over the 2012 fourth-quarter figures of 12.4 percent for people with disabilities and 7.3 percent for people with no disabilities. The figures are based on non-seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
“The job market remains challenging; even more so for those with disabilities who face a greater hurdle for a number of reasons,” said Tricia Blazier, personal financial planning manager for Allsup. “For example, working for an extended period of time may no longer be possible due to their condition, or their disability worsens over time to the degree that they can no longer work at all.”
The Allsup Disability Study: Income at Risk shows that 680,292 people with disabilities applied for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) during the first quarter of 2013. Although that figure is an increase over the 638,223 people who applied in the previous quarter, it’s a decrease from this time last year. There were 724,746 applicants in the first quarter of 2012.