Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program, Implementation ...

With few exceptions, the share of TTW participants indicating a particular reason for notworking substantially exceeds the share of all beneficiaries reporting the reason for notworking. The exceptions include the following: TTW participants are much less likely thanall beneficiaries to have reported that a health condition prevents them from working (74percent compared with 95 percent) and are about equally likely as other beneficiaries to havereported that caring for someone else (6 to 8 percent) and that others do not think they canwork (27 percent) prevent them from working. TTW participants were almost six times aslikely as all working-age beneficiaries to say that waiting to finish school or a trainingprogram kept them from working.2. Employment Goals and ExpectationsWe assessed beneficiaries’ employment goals and expectations in terms of the measuresshown in Figure III.15. As shown, only 30 percent of all beneficiaries indicated that theirpersonal goals include getting a job (if not currently working), moving up in a job, orlearning new job skills. As we might expect, a large majority of TTW participants (81percent) reported that their personal goals include these employment-related activities. Bycomparison, 57 percent of all beneficiaries employed at interview reported that theirpersonal goals include moving up in a job or learning new job skills.Only 20 percent of all beneficiaries see themselves working for pay in the next year. Asomewhat higher share (26 percent) see themselves working for pay in the next five years.In general, DI-only beneficiaries are less likely than SSI-only and concurrent beneficiaries tosee themselves working in the future. In contrast, a majority of TTW participants andemployed beneficiaries see themselves working in the next year and in the next five years.Among TTW participants, 70 percent see themselves working in the next year, and 80percent see themselves working in the next five years. Among employed beneficiaries,however, 86 percent see themselves working in the next year, but only 71 percent seethemselves working in the next five years. The difference between TTW participants andemployed beneficiaries in terms of the direction of their expectations over five years may bepartly connected to the fact that 20 percent of employed beneficiaries are age 55 or older,whereas just 12 percent of TTW participants are that age (shown in Figure III.1). Thedifference may also be a function of greater optimism about employment among TTWparticipants who are not yet working, relative to employed beneficiaries whose expectationsare influenced by the realities of their current work experiences.Overall, 7 percent of beneficiaries see themselves earning enough to stop receivingbenefits in the next year, and 15 percent feel the same way about the next five years (FigureIII.15). Focusing only on beneficiaries with future work expectations, among thoseexpecting to work in the next year, 37 percent see themselves earning enough to leave therolls in the next year, and among those who see themselves working in the next five years, 58percent see themselves earning enough to leave the rolls in that time frame. While employedbeneficiaries and TTW participants appear to be more optimistic than beneficiaries ingeneral, a greater proportion of TTW participants than employed beneficiaries seethemselves earning enough to stop receiving benefits. Specifically, 28 percent of TTWbeneficiaries and 18 percent of employed beneficiaries see themselves earning enough to47III: Beneficiary Characteristics and Employment Perspectives