Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

It is well-known that people with disabilities tend to have lower employment outcomes than people without disabilities. However, there is variation in the size of this employment gap by individual characteristics, such as race and education, with certain subgroups having a smaller employment gap than others. This variation provides an opportunity to identify factors that could increase employment rates across all subgroups. Our paper will use the 2015 Survey of Disability and Employment to better understand the underlying factors that might affect the employment outcomes of people in these subgroups. The Survey of Disability and Employment collected information on barriers and facilitators to employment for 3,000 individuals with disabilities who applied for employment services to three State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies. We will use a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to show how much of the employment differences between subgroups of individuals with disabilities can be explained by observable characteristics, with a particular focus on access to employment facilitators such as workplace accommodations and support from coworkers and family. We will then quantify differences in employment facilitators for the subgroups of interest, both overall and by employment status. Finally, we will explore additional employment barriers that might have further prevented people with disabilities from working. Our results will help inform efforts to develop improved policies and practices to support individuals with disabilities in the workplace.