Career Advice & News Center

Stuck at a terribly high 10 percent, the national unemployment rate has given Americans trained in every industry reason to complain about job loss or a lack of opportunities. But the hardship could be worse specifically for people with disabilities, who have faced unemployment at a significantly high rate than the public at large.

The recent Allsup Disability Study: Income at Risk found that the number of people applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits reached a record-high 2.8 million applicants in 2009.

The difficulty among the disabled to return to work during the recession was manifested in a staggering unemployment rate of 14.8 percent during the fourth-quarter of 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

By comparison the unemployment rate for Americans without disabilities was 9.3 percent over the same timeframe.

On average, in the past 12 months, disabled Americans experienced a 60 percent higher unemployment rate than those with no disabilities.

"Deciding when to apply for SSDI is one of the most critical decisions for someone with a disability," said Paul Gada, personal financial planning director for Allsup.

He added, "You may hold off with the hopes of returning to the work force, despite clear signs that you can't work. This puts you at even greater financial risk, particularly given how long the SSDI process can take."

Analysts believe the rising number of SSDI applications can be attributed to people with disabilities who have been out of work because of the recession and are slowly deciding that they are medically unable to return to work.

The Social Security Administration expects SSDI claims to grow to 1 million by the end of fiscal-year 2010, as claims have generally increased during each of the seven recession periods since 1969.