Changes in the Composition of Disability Insurance Applicants and Recipients in the Wake of the Coronavirus Epidemic

Abstract

Despite concerns that the enormous economic and health consequences of the COVID pandemic would increase Social Security disability benefit claiming, applications dropped during the first nine months of the pandemic. This paper uses Social Security Administration data on new program applicants and current beneficiaries to characterize age and impairment changes among applicants in the post-COVID-19 period and trends in death rates among Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income recipients. In the post-COVID-19 period, program disability applicants were nearly half a year younger than usual and recipients experienced death rates that were 15% to 24% higher than earlier years. Neither differences in telework rates nor excess mortality appeared to explain these results. Additional research is necessary to track these patterns across additional pandemic variants.