This paper examines the seasonality in U.S. Social Security disability applications. We demonstrate that the monthly disability applications feature a double-peak seasonal pattern which lags a similar seasonal pattern in unemployment rate and unemployment insurance initial claims by one to two...

Since the early 1980s, the U.S. economy has experienced a growing wage differential: high-skilled workers have claimed an increasing share of available income, while low-skilled workers have seen an absolute decline in real wages. How and why this disparity has arisen is a matter of ongoing...