This study examines the relationship between services provided by state vocational rehabilitation agencies (SVRAs) and return-to-work outcomes of Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries. DI beneficiaries who enrolled in SVRA services were compared with matched and unmatched comparison groups of beneficiaries who did not enroll in these services. We examined the progression to substantial employment milestones for DI beneficiaries over a 10-year period beginning with their entry into the DI program. Employment outcomes of the SVRA enrollee group are substantially better than those of their matched and non-matched non-enrollee counterparts, and the timing of their employment outcomes is strongly associated with the timing of vocational rehabilitation (VR) enrollment. These findings indicate that differences in employment outcomes between DI beneficiaries who received VR services and those who did not are not simply due to observable differences.
Ben-ShalomY.MamunA. (2013). Return-to-work outcomes among Social Security Disability Insurance program beneficiaries (Mathematica working paper). Washington, DC: Mathematica Policy Research.
2.
DeanD.PepperJ.SchmidtR.SternS. (2013). The effects of vocational rehabilitation for people with cognitive disabilities. Unpublished manuscript.
3.
DeanD.PepperJ.SchmidtR.SternS. (2014a, January). The effects of vocational rehabilitation for people with mental illness. Unpublished manuscript.
4.
DeanD.PepperJ.SchmidtR.SternS. (2014b). State vocational rehabilitation programs and federal disability insurance: An analysis of Virginia’s vocational rehabilitation program. IZA Journal of Labor Policy, 3(7), 1–19.
5.
DitchmanN.WuM. Y.ChanF.FitzgeraldS.TuW. (2013). Vocational rehabilitation. In StrauserD. (Ed.), Career development, employment, and disability in rehabilitation: From theory to practice (pp. 343–360). New York, NY: Springer.
6.
DuttaA.GerveyR.ChanF.ChouC. C.DitchmanN. (2008). Vocational rehabilitation services and employment outcomes of people with disabilities: A United States study. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 18, 326–334.
7.
GuoS.FraserM. W. (2010). Propensity score analysis: Statistical methods and analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
8.
HildebrandL.KosarL.PageJ.BarryX.LoewenbergM.FischerB.. . .HazelwoodN. (2011). User’s guide for the Ticket Research File (TRF10). Washington, DC: Mathematica Policy Research.
9.
HoneycuttT.StapletonD. (2013). Striking while the iron is hot: The effect of vocational rehabilitation service wait times on employment outcomes for applicants receiving Social Security benefits. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 39, 137–152.
10.
LiuS.StapletonD. (2011). Longitudinal statistics on work activity and use of employment supports for new Social Security disability insurance beneficiaries. Social Security Bulletin, 71(3), 35–60.
11.
MannD.MamunA.HemmeterJ. (in press). Employment, earnings, and primary impairments among beneficiaries of Social Security disability programs. Social Security Bulletin.
12.
MartinR.West-EvansK.ConnellyJ. (2010, Summer). Vocational rehabilitation: Celebrating 90 years of careers and independence. American Rehabilitation (Special Edition), pp. 15–18.
13.
RoesslerR. (2002). TWWIIA initiatives and work incentives: Return to work implications. Journal of Rehabilitation, 68, 11–16.
14.
SchimmelJ.StapletonD.MannD.PhelpsD. (2013, July). Participant and provider outcomes since the inception of Ticket to Work and the effects of the 2008 regulatory changes (Report submitted to the Social Security Administration). Washington, DC: Mathematica Policy Research, Center for Studying Disability Policy.
15.
SevakP.HoutenvilleA.BruckerD.O’NeillJ. (2014, April). The influence of age, gender, race and education on employment, earnings and hours worked. Paper presented at the State-of-the-Science Conference: Advancing Evidence-Based Practices and Policies to Close the Employment Gap, Bethesda, MD.
16.
Social Security Administration. (2012). Annual statistical report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program, 2011. Baltimore, MD: Office of Retirement and Disability Policy.
17.
Social Security Administration. (2014). 2014 red book: A summary guide to employment supports for persons with disabilities under the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs. Baltimore, MD: Office of Retirement and Disability Policy.
18.
StapletonD.MartinF. (2012, September). Vocational rehabilitation on the road to Social Security disability: Longitudinal statistics from matched administrative data (Michigan Retirement Research Center working paper 2012-269). Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Retirement Research Center.
19.
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2005). Vocational rehabilitation: Better measures and monitoring could improve the performance of the VR program (GAO-05-865). Washington, DC: Author.
20.
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2007). Vocational rehabilitation: Earnings increased for many SSA beneficiaries after completing VR services, but few earned enough to leave SSA’s disability rolls (GAO-07-332). Washington, DC: Author.
