Employment
Sources of Income of People Age 50 to 64 with Work Disabilities
Research Report
Ke Bin Wu, AARP Public Policy Institute
Laurel Beedon, AARP Public Policy Institute
May 2007
People with disabilities are disproportionately poor. When a 2004 Harris survey asked people with and without disabilities to pick the income category best describing their total 2003 household income, their responses revealed that 26 percent of those with disabilities were likely to have household incomes of $15,000 or less, compared to 9 percent of other Americans.
This AARP Public Policy Institute Data Digest analyzes income sources for people age 50 to 64 with work disabilities, highlighting the distribution of these individuals and the distribution of their major income sources by gender and race/ethnic group.
- While more than seven million age 50 to 64 persons (over 14 percent of that age group) identify themselves as being prevented from working by a disability or health condition, they are not evenly distributed across racial and ethnic groups.
- For age 50 to 64 whites and Hispanics, 13.3 percent and 14.9 percent, respectively, are work disabled; the percentage is 22.7 for African Americans.
The four most important sources of income for the midlife work-disabled population are:
- Social Security programs, including Social Security Disability Insurance (3.2 million beneficiaries; 35% age 50-64)
- Asset income, including savings interest, dividends, rent income (2.3 million beneficiaries; 32.7% age 50-64)
- Supplemental Security Income (1.2 million beneficiaries; 17.6 age 50-64)
- Pension or retirement income (over 900,000 beneficiaries; 13.2% age 50-64)
Data used in the report are based on the U. S. Census Bureau's March 2005 Current Population Survey. (8 pages)
Pub ID: DD157