Given Time It Worked

The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Employment Pilot in Wisconsin was one of four Social Security Administration authorized pilots to test a cash benefit offset feature for the SSDI program. Those allowed to use the offset only lost US$1 of their SSDI cash benefit for every US$2 earned when their monthly earnings reached the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) level after completing the Trial Work Period (TWP). Over the first two years following pilot enrollment, no statistically significant differences were observed in employment outcomes between the treatment and control groups. However, after these first two years, outcome trends diverged, ultimately leading to the treatment group exhibiting better outcomes. The differences between treatment and control participants were conditioned on whether participants completed their TWP by the end of 2008. Subsequently, there were statistically significant differences between outcome trends for the two groups of TWP completers. There were virtually no differences between the outcome trends for the groups with no TWP completers. These results are consistent with an interpretation that the cash benefit offset, given adequate time, can be an effective work incentive.