DataNote No. 36, 2011
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a means-tested income-support program administered by the Social Security Administration. Eligibility is contingent upon proving that one has a limited ability to work due to disability. However, the program offers several work incentives aimed at encouraging SSI recipients to enter the workforce while maintaining their benefits. Despite the promotion of employment through Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) and other programs, a very small percentage of SSI recipients actually work. This may be due to low awareness of these incentive programs among recipients (Livermore et al., 2010). In 2010, only 4.6% of SSI recipients worked nationally--a 30% decrease from 6.7% in 2000.
An interesting picture emerges when the data is examined at the regional level. The map below shows that when states are categorized into four groups across the range of percentage employed by state, the majority of states (80%) are in the lower half of that range (0-7.9% of people on SSI are employed). It also appears that subsets of neighboring states have similar outcomes. For example, the southern and southwestern United States from Arizona to Florida had the lowest percentage of SSI recipients working in 2010, with only 0 to 3.99% (the min. is 2.28%) of individuals employed. The north central state cluster--ND, SD, MN, and IA--had the highest percentage of individuals employed, between 13 and 17.99% (the max. is 16.66%).
Clusters of states experiencing better employment outcomes are notable. One possible explanation for why the northern cluster states have better outcomes while the southern and southwestern clusters have lower outcomes for people on SSI is the state unemployment rate. Three of the top four states with the lowest unemployment rate in 2010, as ranked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2011), are from the north central cluster (ND, SD, IA). The variation across states, and the fact that the lowest-performing and highest-performing states are geographically contiguous, may merit further exploration.
Download this publication in PDF.