Ticket to Work Evaluation Reports for 2004 - 2013

The 2004-2013 TTW evaluation covered all aspects of the TTW Act including:

• Process evaluation:
  • TTW program rollout from 2002-2005
  • Document reviews and interviews with SSA agency staff, the TTW Program Manager, and several ENs and VR agencies;
  • SSA efforts to adapt to developing implementation needs.
• Participation analysis:
  • EN recruitment and participation;
  • Demand for employment services and the extent of unmet demand;
  • Work-related goals and expectations among Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries;
  • State VR agency participation;
  • The range of services provided by ENs and VRs;
  • Program participation by SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients;
  • SSA efforts to improve provider and beneficiary participation.
• Impact and Outcomes Analysis:
  • Assessment of the employment services ENs and VRs provided;
  • Participant satisfaction with services received from TTW providers;
  • The quality and characteristics of employment obtained by participants;
  • The impact of TTW on employment and earnings as compared to the VR-only program that preceded TTW;
  • Long-term longitudinal cohort analyses of the timing of participation in employment services, employment, and benefit suspension and termination among SSI and SSDI beneficiaries;
  • Patterns and duration of beneficiary suspension and termination for work;
  • Comparison of SSDI and SSI exits to program costs;
  • Provider experiences under the revised TTW regulations;
  • Analysis of the work incentives planning and assistance (WIPA) program and the Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach (BPAO) program that preceded it.
• Data development:
  • Development of comprehensive SSA administrative data into the Disability Analysis File (DAF) to support the TTW evaluation;
  • Development and implementation of the National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) to collect information on disability, employment interest, employment service utilization, and work, earnings, and benefits that are not available in SSA administrative data.

Overall, the TTW evaluation found that the TTW program is generally liked by beneficiaries who use it, that the program has increased use of return-to-work services, and those who participate in TTW have better outcomes than those who return to work without the help of SSA financed employment services. However, the evaluation did not find that the increase in service use and better outcomes by participants has translated into measurable net increases in benefit suspension or termination relative to the VR-only program that preceded it. However, because TTW was implemented without a demonstration phase, there was no ability to use a randomized controlled trial evaluation design. This meant the effects would have had to be large to be measurable, and smaller, relevant effects could have occurred without detection by our evaluation methods. Consequently, we were not able to determine whether TTW produced savings that were sufficient to offset the costs of the program. Further, we were not able to evaluate the effectiveness of TTW services as compared to no services at all. However, we concluded that TTW has extended the types and availability of services as compared to the VR-only program that preceded it and has achieved at least the same level of success as VR alone achieved before TTW. More beneficiaries are getting these services now, but we could not conclude that the success rate in terms of benefit exits has measurably improved.

Ticket to Work Evaluation Reports

TTW Evaluation Report #7

This report consists of seven studies comparing TTW program experiences before and after we implemented the revised regulations in July 2008 and updating information about the general employment efforts of working-age SSDI and SSI beneficiaries.  One of the studies re-estimates the impact of the original program (before the regulatory changes) on beneficiary service use and employment using new methods intended to improve the precision of those estimates.

TTW Evaluation Report #6

This report consists of four studies focusing on the employment efforts of working-age SSDI and SSI beneficiaries and the Social Security program features designed to encourage beneficiary employment.  Two of the studies specifically concern TTW participants and program issues, while the other two cover more general topics.

TTW Evaluation Report #5

This report consists of nine studies examining the work activities of SSDI and SSI beneficiaries and the challenges they face in returning to work at levels that lead to exit from the disability rolls.  Three of these studies specifically concern TTW participants and program issues, while the other six are studies on more general topics.

TTW Evaluation Report #4

This report updates and extends the work presented in earlier evaluation reports to cover the first four years of the TTW program, examining how well the TTW market functions and the extent to which the introduction of TTW changed beneficiary enrollment in employment-support services, employment, and receipt of SSDI or SSI benefits.

TTW Evaluation Report #3

This report examines program operational issues as well as the impact of TTW on beneficiaries.

TTW Evaluation Report #2

This report provides an interim look at the program during its second two years of operation, 2003–2004, in order to facilitate the program refinement process.

TTW Evaluation Report #1

This report examines early implementation issues of the TTW program and sets the stage for the more comprehensive reports to follow.

Disability Policy Briefs
Starting with the fifth evaluation report, we have selected the most interesting findings from the TTW evaluation reports to highlight in disability policy research briefs.

Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) Evaluation Reports
We have evaluated the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) program as part of the Ticket to Work evaluation.  These reports provide information on beneficiaries served by WIPA projects, services provided, and program costs, as well as employment-related outcomes for a cohort of WIPA enrollees.

The TTW evaluation required us to utilize information from across SSA administrative systems and to collect data through a survey when SSA administrative sources did not provide the information needed for the evaluation. We developed these data resources to support the TTW evaluation, but also used this opportunity to develop these data broadly, document them thoroughly, and make them available for use for other researchers assessing SSA’s disability populations and their interest and interaction with work.

We developed the Disability Analysis File (DAF) to support the TTW evaluation. For more information, please visit the Disability Analysis File (DAF) page.

We conducted the National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) as part of the Ticket to Work evaluation.  For more information on the NBS, please continue to the National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) page.

SSA started a new evaluation of the TTW programs in 2023. For information on the new evaluation, visit the TTW Program Evaluation page.

For information on the Ticket to Work (TTW) program, visit The Work Site.