Occupational Requirements and Worker Physical and Mental Health Functioning: How Measuring Workplace Accommodation Use May Inform Disability Policy

Abstract

Workplace accommodations may enable Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries and other workers with disabilities to maintain or return to work, but the extent to which accommodations keep those workers employed is unknown because of limited data availability. In this article, the authors outline a method of measuring and analyzing the interrelationship between workplace accommodations, worker functional ability, and a job’s functional requirements. They also present survey-based descriptive statistics using those measures for three specific occupations (cashiers, nurses, and receptionists) to assess whether individuals with functional limitations might be able to work if appropriate accommodations are provided.

Keywords: Social Security Disability Insurance, Worker retention, Workplace accommodations, Occupational requirements, Functional capacity

JEL Classification: H53, J14, J21, J24