According to recent research, the unemployment rate for disabled Americans in the first quarter of 2012 currently sits at 14.6 percent. This is significantly higher than the 8.4 percent unemployment rate for those individuals who do not suffer from a disability.
When California residents are unable to work for an extended period of time due to a disability, they will most likely find themselves in a difficult financial situation. Why? In today’s economic climate, it is particularly difficult for people with disabilities to reenter the work force, leaving them without the means to support themselves. To make matters even more difficult, unemployment insurance offers only temporary assistance.
So how can unemployed, disabled Californians support themselves financially, particularly when their disability was unforeseen? This is where applying for SSD coverage can help.
While the unemployment rate dropped slightly at the end of 2011 for both disabled and non-disabled individuals, almost three million Americans still applied for Social Security Disability insurance due to an inability to work.
This year that number has already increased by more than 720,000 people, adding to the nearly two million SSD claims currently pending before the Social Security Administration. Unfortunately, the current Social Security Disability backlog translates into a wait time of more than 800 days.
Though the application process can sometimes be complicated and time consuming, applying as soon as possible after an inability to work can decrease the amount of time that applicants will be left without income, and thus forced to find other means to survive.
Source: Chicago Tribune, “Unemployment among those with disabilities climbs to 14.6%,” Kristin Samuelson, April 16, 2012
