Record 8.9 Million Americans On Disability

A new accomplishment

The nation's disability rolls continued to climb sharply, as 76,983 workers enrolled in the Social Security Disability Insurance program in April, according to new data from the Social Security Administration.

More than 300,000 have joined the program so far this year. The number of workers on permanent disability is now a record 8,865,586, a net increase of one million in just three years.

Today, 6.5 workers are on disability for every 100 who have a job. That's double the ratio from two decades ago. The number of people on disability has climbed almost sixfold since 1970.