Talk Elections

Americans Joining Disability Now Outpacing Americans Finding Jobs
10:31 AM, Jul 17, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

between April-June 2012, an estimated 246,000 Americans were added to Social Security's disability insurance program. In that same time period, only 225,000 American jobs were created.

weekly standard.com/blogs/americans-joining-disability-outpaces-americans-finding-jobs_648660.html

This is not only a phenomenon of the US only. In recent years, early retirements in Austria have exploded because of disability reasons. It was "hip" to go to a psycho doc and get yourself a medical certificate that you have a "burnout" or some other psychological problem, then apply for early retirement. Last year, the SPÖVP coalition made it really tough to apply for these early retirements based on psychological reasons and now you have to register with the Labor Service first, then go to rehab (sometimes multiple times) and wait to be "re-integrated into the labor market". There's an effect: the early retirements are WAY down in the past year, but tell that to those who really have severe medical/psychological problems and are now stuck in endless labor market agency shuffles/rehab/into a new job/get fired again/back to the labor market service etc. and still without the chance to apply for a regular pension for another 10+ years ... :P

Thank you for sharing your knowledge of the situation in Austria.

I was pointing out what has been happening in the United States.

Some people have been making the fatuous assertion that the reason why the employed work force has been shrinking (as a percentage) is some how about retirements.

The truth is that it involves things like people going back to school, going on disability, etc.

Rather beside the point what they're doing in their enforced idleness, Carlhayden, the centrally important fact is that the State has not made remunerative positions for them.

Next you'll be blaming macramé or shuffleboard for our social ills.