WI24-06: A Qualitative Investigation of Work-Related Decision Making Among SSI Recipients

A significant body of research demonstrates that people who participate in Social Security’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI) rarely return to the workforce in their lifetimes. Simultaneously, qualitative and survey research often finds that people receiving disability benefits desire to work yet face perceived employment disincentives and barriers. This study will use community-based participatory research (CBPR) techniques alongside qualitative methods across two research sites to explore how SSI recipients approach work-related decision-making. This exploration is twofold: First, it takes up questions of how individuals’ ethnoracial and disability backgrounds may impact their orientation towards the potential risk of returning to the workforce; and second, it explores potential barriers to employment as they relate to recipient understanding of SSA policy and associated administrative burden. Findings will inform SSA on reasons why SSI recipients choose to engage in work - both formal and informal - or not, and the role of structural inequities and SSA policies in these decision-making processes.