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Disability Ranks Outpace New Jobs In Obama Recovery
Investors.com ^ | July 6,2012 | JOHN MERLINE

Posted on 07/06/2012 7:36:27 AM PDT by Hojczyk

More workers joined the federal government's disability program in June than got new jobs, according to two new government reports, a clear indicator of how bleak the nation's jobs picture is after three full years of economic recovery.

The economy created just 80,000 jobs in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. But that same month, 85,000 workers left the workforce entirely to enroll in the Social Security Disability Insurance program, according to the Social Security Administration.

The disability ranks have outpaced job growth throughout President Obama's economic recovery. While the economy has created 2.6 million jobs since June 2009, fully 3.1 million workers signed up for disability benefits.

In other words, the number of new disability enrollees has climbed 19% faster than the number of new jobs created during the sluggish recovery.

And the disability ranks will continue to swell. In just the last month, almost 275,000 put in applications for disability benefits. Experts say that more people try to get on disability when jobs are scarce, and changes to eligibility rules enacted back in 1984 have made it far easier to qualify.

In addition, while job growth has been very weak during the recovery, the total number of people who've dropped out of the labor force entirely has exploded, climbing 7.3 million since June 2009, and IBD analysis of BLS data show. Some of them aged into retirement, but most either signed up for disability, stayed in school, moved back in with parents, or just quit looking for a job.

As a result, "labor force participation rate" — the number of people who have jobs or actively looking for one compared with the entire working-age population — is now 63.8%, down from 65.7% in June 2009. This participation rate is lower than it's been in 30 years.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government
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To: listenhillary

Oh, I get it - duh?
No not until the process was over, you can’t apply until you have been disabled/can’t work for a year.
It never occurred to me that I would be disabled enough not to work my chosen career path. I was wrong.
So I actually applied 2009, about December, was denied because I was one quarter short of the min needed in the previous ten years.
Maybe I should just reapply? ;-)


21 posted on 07/06/2012 9:33:39 AM PDT by svcw (If one living cell on another planet is life, why isn't it life in the womb?)
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To: Terry Mross

They have been turning people down on the first try and then when they appeal it, there is a 12 to 18 month wait until you get a court date to present your case to a judge.


22 posted on 07/06/2012 10:52:02 AM PDT by JimC214
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To: JimC214

There are three stages. The first reply will come in 60 days. The second is much longer but I’m not sure how long that is. I think it’s six months after the first rejection. The third stage is where you go before a “judge” and I’m told that can take years.

Like I said, I don’t know how they expect people to live who are truly disabled.

Another stupid thing about SS. If you’re disabled, you allowed to earn up to $15,000 a year working part time. But you can’t work at all UNTIL you’re deemed disabled.


23 posted on 07/06/2012 11:15:53 AM PDT by Terry Mross ( To all my kin: Do not attempt to contact me as long as you love obama.)
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To: JimC214; svcw

Lawyers get paid 25% of the back pay. They won’t take a case until the applicant has been turned down. What they do is run ads and then talk people into applying online. Their apps are so incomplete it’s ridiculous. So, they’re rejected. Then the lawyer takes over and explains how it should be done and re-applies for you. If you win he gets his 25%. To the shysters it’s all a numbers game.


24 posted on 07/06/2012 11:36:22 AM PDT by Terry Mross ( To all my kin: Do not attempt to contact me as long as you love obama.)
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To: svcw

You don’t have to be disabled for a year. You have to be disabled and EXPECT that you won’t ever be able to work. If a guy loses both arms and both legs he can apply immediately. Or if a person is diagnosed with a disease and is givin only so long to live.


25 posted on 07/06/2012 11:38:57 AM PDT by Terry Mross ( To all my kin: Do not attempt to contact me as long as you love obama.)
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To: Terry Mross

That is interesting, maybe even with the 25% kick back I should find a lawyer.
I certainly could be wrong on this. My company paid me 80% of my salary for two years (which really was the same because no taxes were taken out) and picked up all the medical costs for four years.
My intent was to go back to work, and didn’t find out till after all this that I was classified as disabled.
Thanks for the info.


26 posted on 07/06/2012 11:50:18 AM PDT by svcw (If one living cell on another planet is life, why isn't it life in the womb?)
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To: svcw

SS sets the attorney’s price. It’s 25% of back pay. That’s why they won’t take a case until it’s been turned down. And don’t go to the shysters advertising on TV...like Bender and Bender. All they’ll do is fill out paperwork that you can fill out yourself.


27 posted on 07/06/2012 4:36:19 PM PDT by Terry Mross ( To all my kin: Do not attempt to contact me as long as you love obama.)
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To: Hojczyk

The nation’s workforce expanded by 189,000 in June, 85,000 were added to social security’s disability rolls while only 80,000 unemployed found jobs, and Obama calls it a “step in the right direction”. Anyone who thinks he deserves another four years must be getting all their news from MSNBC.


28 posted on 07/06/2012 4:43:56 PM PDT by csmusaret (I will give Obama credit for one thing- he is living proof that familiarity breeds contempt.)
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