Role of SSA Disability Programs in the COVID-19 Pandemic: SSDI/SSI-Protected Families From Poverty During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Using the Current Population Survey (CPS) – Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) 2019–2020 panel, this study aims to quantify the level of poverty protection that Social Security Administration (SSA) disability programs provided during the pandemic, for all working-age persons with disabilities and for working-age persons with disabilities of different races/ethnicities and genders, controlling for household structure, household employment, and other factors. Results from the fixed effects models indicate that Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)/Supplemental Security Income (SSI) provided financial protection to all households by reducing the marginal effects of poverty by 4.8 percentage points pre-pandemic (15.6%) and post-pandemic (10.8%). The reduction is greater for marginalized groups, particularly two-headed households with female householders (11.9 percentage points from 34.2%). The marginalized groups have high rates of poverty (20% of female householders live in poverty), even with the SSA disability benefits, although the poverty reduction effects are significant for them. Our results highlight disparities in the level of economic support provided by SSA disability programs by race/ethnicity and gender.