There are a higher number claiming from federal programs than the 8.25 million in NYC.
According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), the number of people who are currently claiming federal disability insurance payments has now reached record numbers, exceeding the entire population of New York City.
In fact, the SSA data says that there are 500,000 more people claiming than in NYC.
The latest population data shows that there are 8.25 million people living in the large urban center, but the June 2012 statistics regarding federal disability insurance payments show that 8,733,461 workers were making these claims. The past twenty years have seen a notable decrease in the number of Americans earning a paycheck.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that in June 1992, almost 120 million Americans were employed. At the same time, there were far fewer people receiving payments from federal programs due to illness or injury that made them incapable of working.
At that time, there were slightly more than 3 million receiving disability insurance payments.
This meant that for every 35.5 people on the labor force, there was one person receiving federal funds. This ratio has change significantly since that time. This year, there are over twice as many people receiving these government checks. Today, there is one person receiving payments for every 16.3 people who are employed.
There are only eleven American states that have populations that are higher than the number of people who are collecting disability insurance funds. They are: Florida, California, Michigan, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
In June, the average payment made to the recipients was just over $1,110.
This total doesn’t take into consideration the other individuals who also rely on these payments, such as children, spouses, and other dependents, which increases the total number of beneficiaries for this coverage to 10.8 million.
The funding for the federal disability insurance program comes from a 1.8 percent income tax which his divided between workers and employers. Self employed people must pay this entire tax. That said, the fund for this program has been running at a deficit for the last three fiscal years.
