The SSA categorizes an applicant’s skill level into three: skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled.

Thus, they are more likely to get disability benefits.

People with lower education levels have lesser employment opportunities.

The grid system classifies claimant ages into four categories: younger individuals (18-49 years old), closely approaching advanced age (50-54 years old), advanced age (50 -59 years old), and closely approaching retirement age (60 years and older).

The SSA’s grid rules take into account the following medical-vocational factors to determine your eligibility for disability benefits: This is where the grid of medical-vocational rules (commonly referred to as the “grid rules”) enters the picture. If not, they will determine if your condition prevents you from working.

When you apply for disability benefits, the SSA will check if your medical condition is listed in their blue book. This principle is also reflected in the SSA’s grid rules for determining disability claims. This is why it’s generally easier to apply for disability if you’re over 50. Hence, the less likely it is for you to get a new job. The agency believes that the older you get, the more difficult it is for you to learn a new skill. This, however, is not strictly true for older workers. As such, they may not qualify for disability benefits.

But sometimes the SSA deems that they are still capable of working – just not the same job they were doing before they got disabled. Most workers claim disability benefits on the grounds of not being able to go back to work. Why is this so? The answer lies in SSA’s disability rules.Īside from having enough social security credits, the SSA requires that your medical condition prevents you from working. And more than 13,000 people under 65 are receiving social security disability benefits as of December 2019.īut young disabled workers might have a more difficult time qualifying for social security disability benefits than their older counterparts. In fact, the SSA reported that one in four of today’s 20-year-olds will become disabled before reaching the age of 67. Suffering from a disability before retirement is common among US workers. While you can apply for disability benefits at any age, doing it when you’re over 50 increases your chances of getting approved.

Ssa grids for sedentary work