This has been extensvely studied, and it has been found that many people realized they could get much more money in the long term by claiming disability instead

This has been extensvely studied, and it has been found that many people realized they could get much more money in the long term by claiming disability instead of simply claiming various unemployment benefits.[1] The number of people on the disability rolls went up substantially during the great recession when the number of unemployed or marginally employed people increased drastically, and many of them decided to claim disability rather than trying to go out and look for new jobs. What is particularly distressing about this phenomenon is that the people on disability are discouraged from looking from insecure jobs, because disability benefits are a guaranteed long term income stream which is forfeit in perpetuity upon employment. It is clear that many of the people receiving these government benefits understand the system quite well, as a substantial portion of them are working off the books, to get extra income while avoiding loss of long term benefits. [1] http://economics.mit.edu/files/7388 http://economics.mit.edu/files/7388