Summary
One facet of the pandemic that has persevered is the elevated relevance of distant work. This shift may assist older folks with disabilities, who may in any other case discover it onerous to get or hold jobs. Certainly, this group has the next employment fee post-pandemic than pre-pandemic. Distant work, although, won’t be the one issue contributing to this pattern. Extra folks report having a work-limiting impairment, which may result in the next employment fee amongst this group if the brand new well being situations are comparatively delicate. And the labor market has been extraordinarily tight lately, which additionally helps increase employment. This research makes use of the 2012-2022 Well being and Retirement Examine to look at how distant work has contributed to the rising employment fee of older folks with disabilities. Particularly, it estimates the achieve in teleworkable employment from 2018 to 2022 controlling for doubtlessly confounding elements, and attributes this achieve to distant work. It then explores which forms of older folks with disabilities – primarily based on their current work historical past – have benefitted essentially the most.
The paper discovered that:
- Between 2018 and 2022, distant work contributed to a 10-percent enhance within the employment fee of older folks with disabilities.
- Specifically, distant work inspired some older folks with disabilities to reenter the labor pressure and allowed others to change jobs as an alternative of exiting work.
- Adjustments in incapacity severity and the tight labor market performed solely minor roles.
The coverage implications are:
- Distant work may doubtlessly scale back reliance on Social Safety Incapacity Insurance coverage advantages and enhance this system’s funds.
- Nonetheless, the desirability and availability of distant work may change going ahead.