Disabled make up bulk of those out of work The big surge in Australians dropping out of the labour market is mainly due to more older workers being classified as disabled, the Bureau of Statistics has found. A bureau survey reveals that while a net 121,000 people joined those on the sidelines of the workforce in the year to September, in net terms, almost all of the growth was among people who told interviewers they were "permanently unable to work." Among people aged 45 to 64, the survey found that there was a startling jump of 68,000 people, or almost a third, in those who define themselves as permanently unable to work. This suggests that rather than register for the unemployment benefit, many older workers who lose their jobs or have little hope of finding work are going onto disability support benefits as a form of early retirement. By June 2012, official figures show the number of people on disability support had climbed to 827,460 - far exceeding the 588,807 who were receiving unemployment benefits. This is despite a government crackdown designed to get people off disability benefits. The unemployment benefit is $257.70 a week. The disability support benefit is now 60 per cent higher, at $404.20 a week, and offers easier income tests, significant fringe benefits and fewer work tests. The survey findings imply that the widening gap in benefits has given hundreds of thousands of working age people a huge incentive to be defined as disabled. Research shows that people on disability support are less likely to ever return to the workforce than those on the dole. The survey shows that in 2011-12, the number of people outside the workforce grew more than those inside it. In the year to September, just 65,000 more people found jobs, while 38,000 more became unemployed, and 121,000 more were neither in work nor looking for it. Of them, an additional 114,000 defined themselves as permanently unable to work. Only a net 16,000 more said they were "discouraged workers" - people who said they had given up looking for work because of continual knockbacks. Almost all of them were over 65. The survey found a record 6.1 million Australians aged 15 and over - one in three people defined as being "of working age" - are neither working nor looking for work. Of those, 2.6 million or close to half are over 65. But despite the big jump in their numbers, the survey found that those who said they wanted to work declined by 29,000 over the year - whereas those saying they did not want to work soared by 150,000. In all, 106,600 people said they had given up looking for work because of repeated knockbacks. Most had not worked for at least three years. The main reasons they gave were that employers saw them as too old, or that there were no jobs in their locality or line of work.