The labor market is so strong the number of persons who left Social Security disability (which pays the same as working full-time at minimum wage) because they found gainful employment hit 51,302, the most since record keeping began in 2002, and well above the 37,000/year back in boom years 2005/2006. The number of Americans receiving disability fell to 8.5 million in 12/18 from a peak of 9 million in 12/14.