How are we on the "right track" when we have more people applying for disability than people being hired?

Obama Jobs & Economic Recovery Plan - Disability? July 6, 2012 |

CNN PRODUCER NOTE

Some interesting statistics from Inverstor's Business Daily. There are more people who filed for disability in June than those who found new jobs.

What does this say about President Barack Obama's goals for job creation and for a more robust econonomic recovery?

More workers joined the federal government's disability program in June than got new jobs, according to two new government reports, a clear indicator of how bleak the nation's jobs picture is after three full years of economic recovery.

The economy created just 80,000 jobs in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. But that same month, 85,000 workers left the workforce entirely to enroll in the Social Security Disability Insurance program, according to the Social Security Administration.

The disability ranks have outpaced job growth throughout President Obama's recovery. While the economy has created 2.6 million jobs since June 2009, fully 3.1 million workers signed up for disability benefits.

In other words, the number of new disability enrollees has climbed 19% faster than the number of jobs created during the sluggish recovery. (Even after accounting for people who left the disability program because they died or aged into retirement, disability ranks have climbed more than 1.1 million in the past three years.)

And the disability ranks will continue to swell. In just the last month, almost 275,000 put in applications for disability benefits. Experts say that more people try to get on disability when jobs are scarce, and changes to eligibility rules enacted back in 1984 have made it far easier to qualify.

In addition, while hiring has been very weak during the recovery, the number of people who have dropped out of the labor force entirely has exploded by 7.3 million since June 2009, an IBD analysis of BLS data show. Some aged into retirement, but most either signed up for disability, stayed in school, moved back in with parents, or just quit looking for a job.

As a result, the "labor force participation rate" — the number of people who have jobs or are actively looking for one compared with the entire working-age population — is now 63.8%, down from 65.7% in June 2009. This participation rate is at the lowest levels in 30 years. In previous recoveries, the participation rate has almost always risen, not fallen.

http://news.investors.com/article/617233/201207060...

There are many on the right who are claiming that the goal of the President is to turn the nation into a "nanny state", where people become totally reliant on the federal government to sustain their lives.

From the Cornfield, it is difficult for me to fathom there are that many legitimate claims for disability in the nation.

Getting approved for disability insurance is a process that usually takes about 18 months. To get a fair comparison to job creation you'd have to take all of the jobs created in the last 18 months and add them together, then compare that number to the back log of disability claims.

In the administrations view an increase of dependency on government, an increasing "dependent class" is the right track. Very sad.

Obamunism- Ruining the USA since 2008.

No doubt. I can't wait for the ssi pot to crack and most them bums have to get a job. I understand people are disabled, but even i personally know people who have no right collecting ssi, though they do it legally.

It's certainly not a good sign. Something has to break if more people are taking out of the system then are putting in.

The sequencing of your question is misleading.

First, US working class people are NOT hired by hoarding, outsourcing US richclass. THEN they have to apply for benefits to avoid starvation.

Please don't do that again.

that is backdoor democrat welfare in high gear. plus those people can no longer be counted as the millions of 0bama's unemployed.

That IS what Obama calls the right track. I know, stupid huh?

Release the red pandas who have been locked up in zoos without a fair trial! They'll save us!