Has Remote Work Improved Employment Outcomes for Older People with Disabilities?

One aspect of the pandemic that has persisted is the increased relevance of remote work.  This shift could help older people with disabilities, who might otherwise find it hard to get or keep jobs.  Indeed, this group has a higher employment rate post-pandemic than pre-pandemic.  Remote work, though, might not be the only factor contributing to this trend.  More people report having a work-limiting impairment, which could lead to a higher employment rate among this group if the new health conditions are relatively mild.  And the labor market has been extremely tight in recent years, which also helps boost employment.  This study uses the 2012-2022 Health and Retirement Study to examine how remote work has contributed to the rising employment rate of older people with disabilities.  Specifically, it estimates the gain in teleworkable employment from 2018 to 2022 controlling for potentially confounding factors, and attributes this gain to remote work.  It then explores which types of older people with disabilities – based on their recent work history – have benefitted the most. 

The paper found that:

• Between 2018 and 2022, remote work contributed to a 10-percent increase in the employment rate of older people with disabilities.
• In particular, remote work encouraged some older people with disabilities to reenter the labor force and allowed others to switch jobs instead of exiting work. 
• Changes in disability severity and the tight labor market played only minor roles.

The policy implications are:

• Remote work could potentially reduce reliance on Social Security Disability Insurance benefits and improve the program’s finances.
• However, the desirability and availability of remote work might change going forward.