According to Senator Sessions’ office, the program has been running a deficit since 2009. “Consequently, the trust fund is shrinking and will be depleted by 2016 — just four years from now,” his office said.
More Americans went on disability than found jobs over the last three months, according to fresh figures crunched by the Senate Budget Committee.
Underscoring the extent of the recent slowdown in the economy, the startling numbers show that between April and June, a total of 246,000 people enrolled in the Social Security Disability Insurance program. In the same period, just 225,000 found jobs.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ranking Republican on the budget panel, said the figures raise concern about the health of the economy as well as the disability insurance program itself. He said that since 2008, a total of 3.6 million Americans have gone on disability — while 1.3 million lost jobs.
“The growing number of people on disability and other federal benefits, combined with weak economic growth, raises serious concerns about the sustainability of the American economy,” he said in a statement.
The stat speaks more to the weakening economy — a reality Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke confirmed in testimony to Congress Tuesday — than any sudden growth in disability enrollment, which has remained fairly steady.
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