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Workplace injuries and illnesses are an important cause of disability. State workers' compensation programs provide almost $60 billion per year in cash and medical-care benefits for those injuries and illnesses. Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) is the largest disability insurance program in the United States, with annual cash payments to disabled workers of $95 billion in 2008. Because injured workers may also receive DI benefits, it is important to understand how those two systems interact to provide benefits. This article uses matched state workers' compensation and Social Security data to study the relationship between workplace injuries and illnesses and DI benefit receipt. We find that having a lost-time injury substantially increases the probability of DI receipt, and, for people who become DI beneficiaries, those with injuries receive DI benefits at younger ages. This relationship remains robust even after we account for important personal and work characteristics.

We investigate the determinants of application for Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) benefits in approximately 45 jurisdictions between 1981 and 1999. We reproduce findings of previous studies of the determinants of DI application then test the additional influence of changes to workers' compensation program benefits and rules on DI application rates. Our findings indicate that the programs are interrelated: When workers' compensation benefits declined and eligibility rules tightened in the 1990s, the DI application rate increased.

There exists a lot of research on the reservation wages of the unemployed as a determinant of unemployment duration. Little is known about the reservation wages of those who are not in the labor force but might be potential labor force returnees, such as Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries. The main objective of this article is to assess what can be learned from the subjective reservation wages of DI beneficiaries. Using the New Beneficiary Data System (NBDS), the article assesses the magnitudes of reservation wages compared to the last wage earned and the benefit amount, as well as the determinants of reservation wages in a regression framework. The NBDS is unique in that it provides the reservation wages and the work history of DI beneficiaries before and after joining the DI rolls. The article has several noteworthy results and policy implications: *Data show that a significant portion of beneficiaries report being likely to accept a job if offered one. Based on the NBDS, 13 percent of DI beneficiaries who did not work since joining the rolls in 1981-1982 reported in 1991 that they would be willing to work if offered a job and provided their reservation wages. *DI beneficiaries do not appear to price themselves out of the labor market. Half of them would want a wage that is 80 percent or less of the last wage earned before receiving DI. It is estimated that approximately 7 percent of long-term DI beneficiaries may potentially return-to-work if they search for jobs and have a wage offer distribution with a mean at 80 percent of their last wage. *The nonlabor income in addition to the benefit is positively and significantly associated with the reservation wage, while the benefit amount per se is not. However, this result needs to be treated with caution given that nonlabor income is endogenous to the model. *Heterogeneity exists between persons still under the DI program and those that have moved to the Old-Age program. The subsamples of persons who have shifted to the Old-Age program and those who are still under the DI program have median reservation wage to the last wage ratios of 0.69 and 0.93, respectively. A significantly lower reservation wage for persons who have moved to the Old-Age program was also found in a regression framework. This heterogeneity between the two groups may result in part from the different program characteristics both groups face, for instance, in terms of benefit termination and Medicare eligibility rules. *Subjective reservation wage data can be useful to study populations that are out of the labor force. This article is innovative in that it focuses on a group of persons who are typically considered as being out of the labor force, and therefore are not asked reservation wages in general household surveys such as the Current Population Survey. It would be of great interest to collect more reservation wage data for DI beneficiaries in a longitudinal data set to expand this analysis, for instance, to assess conclusively the effects of changing program characteristics on reservation wages and return-to-work outcomes as beneficiaries transition to the Old-Age program or as new return-to-work programs are put in place.

Workers' compensation provides cash benefits and medical care to employees who are injured on the job and survivor benefits to the dependents of workers whose deaths result from work-related incidents. Workers' compensation programs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia and federal programs together paid $56.0 billion in medical and cash benefits in 2004, an increase of 2.3 percent over 2003 payments. Of the total, $26.1 billion was for medical care and $29.9 billion was for cash benefits. Employers' costs for workers' compensation in 2004 were $87.4 billion, an increase of 7.0 percent over 2003 spending. Workers' compensation programs and spending vary greatly from state to state. As a source of support for disabled workers, workers' compensation is currently surpassed in size only by Social Security Disability Insurance (DI), which covers impairments of any cause that are significant, long-term impediments to work. Although most recipients of workers' compensation recover and return to work, those with lasting impairments may become eligible for DI benefits, subject to an offset to avoid excessive wage replacement from both programs.

This article offers a brief summary of the workers' compensation and Social Security Disability Insurance programs. Information highlighted includes the differences between the two programs' types and terms of coverage. It compares the differing patterns in workers' compensation and Social Security disability benefits as a percentage of wages over the past few decades and considers the potential causes for such trends. The article also explains the offset provision included in the 1965 Social Security Amendments, the intention behind the offset, and how and when offsets are applied.

There is substantial variability in how state workers' compensation laws provide benefits to workers who have a permanent partial disability. The basic approaches used by the states can be classified into four groupings, although important differences exist within each group. Depending on the approach used, workers with similar injuries can receive substantially different amounts of benefits. Because compensating permanent partial disabilities frequently involves contention, the matters in dispute will depend on the approach used to determine benefits. The continuation of such differences in approach suggests that the states have not found a single "best practice" for determining what such benefits should be.

Benefit payments under workers' compensation programs in the United States during 1992-93 stabilized in comparison with the experience of prior years, which had been marked by substantial growth. In 1992, the total benefit amount of $44.7 billion was 5.9 percent higher than the amount in 1991. The 1993 benefit amount of $42.9 billion represented a 3.9 percent decrease from the amount in 1992. From 1991 to 1993, benefits increased by only 1.8 percent. The payments for 1993 included $25.4 billion in wage-loss compensation and $17.5 billion for medical care. Employer costs of providing workers' compensation was $55 billion in 1992 and $57.3 billion in 1993. The cost of protection per covered employee was $597 in 1993, equal to $2.30 per $100 of payroll. In the same year, there were 96.1 million workers covered under Federal and State programs. This article examines 1992-93 program experience in terms of benefits, costs, and the components of change.

This note has reviewed the protection of workers against income loss during the first 6 months of illness or injury. The national income loss due to short-term sickness and disability during the first 6 months of illness, as expressed by pre-tax wages, was about $69.6 billion in 1991. Of this amount, about $46.5 billion (66.8 percent) was replaced by income-protection programs, including paid sick leave; group insurance; temporary disability insurance, under statutory State provisions; individual insurance; workers' compensation; general assistance; and the 6th month of the Social Security Disability Insurance program. In 1991, within the private sector, wage and salary workers lost $47.2 billion because of nonoccupational illnesses or injuries, of which $17.6 billion (or 37.3 percent) was replaced. Coverage against income lost because of illness in the U.S. workforce favors full-time professional and technical employees with longer service in large or medium firms, and especially favors public sector employees. The lowest level of coverage is provided to part-time employees with limited seniority who work in production and related areas in small, private establishments. About 70 percent of wage and salary workers in the private sector have some protection through their employment against earnings losses caused by short-term illness or injury; 44 percent of these workers have short-term disability insurance, and half have sick leave coverage.

Between 1978 and 1993, the number of persons receiving disability benefits under either the Supplemental Security Income program or the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program increased more than 43 percent--from 4.7 million to 6.7 million. In 1993, 4.08 percent of the U.S. resident population aged 18-64 were receiving a disability benefit under one or both of the programs, compared with 3.37 percent in 1978. This ratio had declined to 2.93 percent in 1983. The article examines the change in growth since 1975 in each of the two disability programs and provides an overview of key legislative changes occurring during the period. The emphasis is on regional and State changes during the 1987-92 period, identifying those areas where growth has been the most dramatic.

Workers' compensation programs provide protection to workers and their families. The programs compensate for lost wages and medical expenses incurred as a result of work-related injuries or illnesses. Survivor benefits are also provided when the disabilities result in death. In 1991, about $16.8 billion in medical benefits and $25.3 billion in wage-loss compensation was paid in settlement of claims filed for disabled or deceased workers. These benefits were paid by private carriers, by State funds, or by self-insuring companies as determined by laws in each State. The employer's cost of providing workers' compensation coverage generally varies according to risk, industrial classification, and experience rating. Nationally, such costs were approximately 2.4 percent of payroll or about $590 for each of the 93.6 million protected employees. This article examines the recent changes in coverage, in benefit levels, and in employer costs and the factors influencing such changes. Over the past decade, workers' compensation benefits have increased by 157 percent and employer costs by 143 percent. In the same period, the number of covered employees has risen 22 percent and the amount of covered wage and salary payroll, 77 percent.

About 93.1 million workers were covered under workers' compensation laws in 1988--an increase of 11 percent from the 1984 total. Benefit amounts totaled $30.7 billion--an increase of about 56 percent since 1984. Of the total payments made under the workers' compensation program, $17.6 billion went to disabled workers, $1.6 billion to their survivors, and $11.5 billion for medical care. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is interested in measuring economic security in the United States, and workers' compensation plays a large role in that measurement. This article represents one part of our overall effort to determine the roles the various income-maintenance programs play in helping citizens of the United States achieve economic security. The figures presented here provide readers with an opportunity to review workers' compensation program operations during much of the 1980's. Workers' compensation is also important to SSA because that program is directly related to the Social Security Disability Insurance program. Since 1965, Social Security disability benefits have been subject to reduction if the beneficiary also receives workers' compensation and the combined benefits exceed 80 percent of previous earnings. In addition, SSA has been directly involved in providing income maintenance for disability from work-related diseases since 1969 when the Federal Black Lung benefits program was established.

This article summarizes the current financial condition and actuarial status of the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, as shown in the 1987 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees. The Trustees note that the assets of the OASI and DI Trust Funds, on a combined basis, will be sufficient to permit the timely payment of OASDI benefits for many years into the future, on the basis of all four sets of assumptions shown in the report. For the next 75 years, the estimates show that the OASDI program, overall, is in close actuarial balance, based on the two intermediate sets of assumptions. The DI program by itself, however, is not in close actuarial balance for the next 75 years. The actuarial deficit for the DI program could be remedied by a small reallocation of the contribution rate from OASI to DI, in such a way that the OASI program would remain in close actuarial balance and OASDI benefits would not be affected. Although the Trustees are not recommending such a reallocation, they note that the financial condition of the DI program will need to be carefully monitored.