Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program Initial Evaluation Report

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• Almost 40 percent of eligible beneficiaries have been receiving benefits for 10
or more years, and only 11 percent have been receiving benefits for 2 or fewer
years.
• SSA lists a psychiatric disorder as the primary impairment for about onequarter
of eligible beneficiaries (27 percent in Phase 1, 23 percent in Phase 2).
Musculoskeletal impairment is listed for another 17 percent in both phases, and
mental retardation is listed for over 10 percent (11 in Phase 1 and 14 in Phase
2). SSA lists fewer than 10 percent of eligible beneficiaries as being in each of
the remaining impairment categories.
One measurable way in which beneficiaries in the two Phases differ is in their preference for
receiving notices from SSA in Spanish. Just 1 percent of beneficiaries in Phase 2 states
prefer Spanish to English versus 4 percent in the Phase 1 states. This difference reflects the
inclusion of Florida and New York in Phase 1 and the absence of any state with a
comparably large Hispanic population in Phase 2.
2. Variation in Participation Rates
To understand the factors that drive participation, we estimated participation rates for
several subgroups of Phase 1 participants. We focus on Phase 1 states because the states’
earlier rollout has given beneficiaries a longer chance to participate. The subgroups are
defined by beneficiaries’ characteristics (including demographics and primary disabling
conditions) and by their state of residence. Readers are cautioned that these simple crosstabulations
may mask the true determinants of participation because of covariation among
characteristics. In a subsequent report, we will use more sophisticated analysis methods to
study the relationships between participation and individual characteristics, holding other
characteristics constant.
The most interesting finding from this analysis is that a few major subgroups participate
at rates substantially higher or lower than the overall 0.7 percent rate. For example, young
beneficiaries participate at higher rates than older beneficiaries. Those in the youngest age
group (ages 18 to 24) have a participation rate of 2 percent in the Phase 1 states (Figure
IV.8); however, the participation rate declines steadily with age and is only 0.1 percent for
those ages 60 to 64. In fact, for the 53 percent of eligible beneficiaries who are over age 50,
the participation rate is only 0.3 percent. As a result, while only 22 percent of eligible
beneficiaries are under age 40, 45 percent of TTW participants fall in that age group.
IV: Early Participation Patterns