Each year, millions of workers in the United States develop a chronic illness, disability, or other serious medical problem. Many are at risk of exiting the labor force, especially if they do not receive timely and effective return-to-work (RTW) supports. These workers and their families...

This issue brief uses longitudinal data to follow a group of Social Security Insurance beneficiaries and examine their efforts to return to work. Compared with shorter-term cross-sectional data, the longitudinal statistics show higher levels of employment and suspensions of benefits due to work.

This report follows a sample of working-age Social Security Disability Insurance program beneficiaries for five years after their first benefit award to learn how certain factors help or hinder achieving four important milestones: (1) first enrollment for employment services provided by a state...