Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

State vocational rehabilitation agencies (SVRAs) provide various services and supports to adults and transition-age youth with disabilities who want to work. Applying for SVRA benefits, however, does not guarantee eligibility for services or that service receipt will eventually occur. Applicants who receive SVRA services may have very different employment and other outcomes relative to those who do not receive SVRA services. In this study, we use three linked administrative data sources to examine the employment, earnings, and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit receipt outcomes of all SVRA applicants whose SVRA case closed during the 2004, 2005, or 2006 calendar years. Our analysis allows us to measure outcomes up to six calendar years after case closure.

Initial findings reveal substantial differences in youth SSDI and SSI benefit receipt outcomes, such as months in benefit suspension (among those receiving benefits at case closure) and new benefit receipt (among those not receiving benefits at closure), relative to other SVRA applicant age groups. Six full calendar years after case closure, regardless of SVRA service receipt status, people 19-24 years old had the highest average number of months in SSDI or SSI benefit suspension. Across all groups, those who received SVRA services spent relatively more time in benefit suspension. Again regardless of SVRA service receipt status, transition age youth were less likely than those in other age groups to eventually become SSDI or SSI beneficiaries. The analysis will eventually use both descriptive tables and regression models to investigate these and other outcomes.