American Community Survey

DataNote No. 57, 2017

Data show that people with disabilities are consistently less likely to be working than their non-disabled counterparts. In this Data Note, the employment rate for working-age people is compared across disability types, as well as those without disabilities.

This Data Note is the second in a series on the territories produced by the Access to Integrated Employment project, focusing on the secondary data analysis of federal data sets. The purpose is to describe the employment outcomes of adults with disabilities in the territory of Puerto Rico, drawing from a variety of data sources that are typically analyzed for individual U.S. states.

This report summarizes the employment and economic outcomes for young adults with intellectual disabilities between 2006 and 2013 in the nation’s 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC). Data are reported separately for two age groups: 16 to 21 years old, and 22 to 30 years old. Data are from the American Community Survey (ACS), the Rehabilitation Services Administration 911 (RSA-911), and the National Core Indicators (NCI).

Engaging in employment at a young age is critical for workforce participation later in adulthood. This Data Note compares, for youth ages 16–21, the employment rates of those who have cognitive disabilities with the employment rates of their peers without disabilities.

Data show that people with disabilities are consistently less likely to be working than their non-disabled counterparts. In this data note, we compare the employment rate for working-age people with and without disabilities.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federally funded program that provides cash assistance for basic needs. Individuals with a low-income who are over the age of 65, blind, or have a disability are eligible for assistance. SSI beneficiaries typically also receive health insurance coverage through Medicaid. Losing Medicaid benefits can be of concern for SSI recipients with disabilities who desire to work, or are currently working. Section 1619b of the Social Security Act allows individuals to work and continue to receive Medicaid assistance when their earnings are too high to qualify for SSI cash payments as long as they meet other eligibility requirements for the SSI program and continue to need Medicaid in order to work.

It is well-documented that people with disabilities have a significantly lower rate of employment than people without disabilities (36% versus 74% according to the 2006 American Community Survey (ACS). Less is known about the types of work they do. Using the occupational classification system within the ACS, researchers explored the prevalence of people with disabilities within occupational groupings and discuss its relationship to occupational growth1. Future analysis will address variation across disability groups.

Reporting meaningful indicators of labor market success for individuals with disabilities, particularly Intellectual Disabilities (ID), is challenging for a number of reasons. Measures that allow people to indicate specific disabilities like ID are uncommon in large national data sets. Additionally, the use of the “traditional” unemployment rate reported by the Department of Labor as an indicator of labor market success for people with disabilities leaves people who are not in the labor force, a significant group when it comes to subpopulations of people with disabilities, out of the calculation. In this data note, we discuss the implications of using the 2007 American Community Survey (ACS) from the U.S. Census Bureau for indicators of labor market success, including for people with ID.