Articles Posted in Unemployment Benefits

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To qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), applicants must be unable to perform any “substantial gainful activity” that pays $1,180 a month or $14,160 annually. This is roughly the income a minimum-wage American worker makes per year. Also, their condition must be expected to last at least a year or until death.

The analysis of the data from the Census Bureau by economist Ernie Tedeschi shows that the number of Americans ages 25-54 out of the workforce because of a disability has declined 7% since 2014. With 10.3 million people out of the workforce as of May 2018, this reverses an upward trend that had been in place for decades. This can possibly be explained by the growing economy over the last few years, which has allowed companies to hire more workers. University of Maryland economists Katharine G. Abraham and Melissa S. Kearney studied situations where individuals applying for disability benefits were assigned to judges who varied in their leniency. This allowed researchers to compare the outcome of similar applicants when they given or denied benefits. They found that for individuals whose cases for SSDI were questionable due to the acuteness of their condition, 28% of those people decided not to work who otherwise would have. This means that 28 out of 100 individuals decided not to work for fear of this interfering with their ability to successfully win disability benefits.

Robert VerBruggen, deputy managing editor of National Review, emphasized that the current SSDI program fails to accommodate disabled individuals who are still able to work in some capacity. He argued that reform to the program is “imperative.”  A long-term plan, he added, should include awarding temporary or partial benefits to those able to work, but limited in their abilities to do so. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan think tank devoted to reducing the deficit and debt, has published other potential options including subsidizing those with disabilities in their first few months back in the workforce.

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The Social Security Disability Administration (SSA) will consider a number of factors, including the income that you are earning, before it approves your benefits claim. Of primary importance in the processing of your claim is any Substantial Gainful Activity that you are performing. Substantial Gainful Activity is any income that earns you an income beyond a certain limit. In 2015, the limit set by SSA $1,090 per month. You are not eligible for benefits if you earn more than this fixed amount.

However, the income that SSA will calculate will only include work-related benefits. Unemployment benefits are not included in the calculation. Therefore, your unemployment benefits will have no effect on your eligibility for disability benefits from the Social Security Administration. Your unemployment benefits will also not have any effect on the amount of benefits that you receive from SSA.

However, there is a flipside. The benefits that you get from Social Security Administration may lead to a reduction in the amount of unemployment benefits that you receive. For more information on this, it’s best to contact the Georgia Department of Labor or logon to its website and learn whether your unemployment benefits will decrease because of your disability benefits.

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