The Effects of Remote Work on Workplace Disabilities and Federal Disability Claiming

Angela Y. Gu, University of California, San Diego

Remote work has transformed modern employment. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost 60 percent of workers who can telework work all or most of the time from home (Pew Research Center 2022). This new mode of work raises several questions for workplace disabilities and federal disability claiming. First, what impact does remote work have on the incidence of occupational injuries and illnesses? Second, how does it change incentives to apply for federal disability benefits? Third, do the effects vary by gender and race? In this chapter of my dissertation, I will study these questions with a combination of administrative and public datasets, including California workers’ compensation claims, Social Security Administration (SSA) data on Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income applications, and national survey data. I will use dynamic difference-in-differences designs that either compare remote vs. non-remote occupations across years or exposure to remote occupations across states before and after the dramatic rise in telework during the pandemic. To isolate the effects of remote work from other pandemic-era shocks, I will study the treatment effects that occur after the prevalence of the COVID-19 disease and the expiration of relevant policy changes. I propose to examine rates of application, denials, and types of disabilities in workers’ compensation claims and national survey data to assess how remote work has changed the nature of occupational injuries and illnesses. I will explore shifts in disability progression and other federal disability claiming incentives with workers’ compensation data on medical treatment and indemnity benefits as well as with SSA data on federal disability applications. To determine whether there are disparate impacts across groups, I will estimate gender and racial gaps in my disability outcome variables. Knowing the effects of remote work on workplace disabilities and federal disability claiming is crucial for understanding how SSA programs and the diverse populations they serve are changing.