ABSTRACT
Since 1970, the Bureau of the Census has collected data on work disability among U.S. residents. The 1990 census defined work disability as the inability to perform work resulting from a physical, mental, or other health condition of six months’ duration or longer; categories are non-severe (limitation in the type or amount of work a person can perform) and severe (an inability to perform work of any type). In 1990, an estimated 12.8 million persons aged 16-64 years had a work disability: 6.6 million were severe, and 6.2 million non-severe. Rates of work disability varied widely among the states. From 1980 to 1990, the prevalence of work disability declined nationally from 85.2 per 1000 persons to 81.5 per 1000 persons, and rates of severe and non-severe work disability decreased by 3.9 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively (LaPlante 1993a; LaPlante 1993b). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported during May 1998 that in the United States an estimated 10 per cent of persons had some recent disability from a diagnosable mental illness and up to 24 per cent have experienced a mental disorder during the preceding year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1998).
