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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRural communitives have strongest reliance on disability benefits
WARSAW, MO. -- Around this rural county seat 100 miles southeast of Kansas City, 1 out of every 8 people of working age is home collecting disability checks from the Social Security Administration.
That compares to about 1 in 20 for the Kansas City area which may sound low, but its climbing here, too.
Everywhere, Americans below retirement age are surviving on Social Security disability benefits and, with baby boomers aging in a slow economy, applications are exploding. Each year since the onset of the recession, more than 400,000 have been joining the systems disability rolls, where they collect a monthly average of about $1,000.
But where are they most apt to collect it? A recent tabulation of data nationwide reveals the highest concentrations of communities subsisting on disability benefits, per capita, to be in historically poor, rural settings.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/28/3397747/disability-rolls-have-a-rural.html#storylink=cpy
NMDemDist2
(49,313 posts)inherently more dangerous that your average urban office job
rural areas have more mining, farming, oil field etc etc jobs and they are more liable to cause disabilities at a younger age.
i'd be interested to see a study on that relationship......
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)Rural areas tend to have significantly older populations - disability rates increase quite dramatically with age.
TBF
(31,921 posts)it is much less expensive to live on a fixed income in a small town. He is in a very small town (less than 2000) but within an hour of a larger city with a great VA hospital.
proud2BlibKansan
(96,793 posts)Also lack of health care.
NMDemDist2
(49,313 posts)my bad
here in my rural county, these folks work themselves into the grave. if you can work you work til you're in your 70s, mostly in the oil fields or the mines
these men work until they're used up. it's just some get used up faster it seems.