A User's Guide to Current Statistics on the Employment of People With Disabilities

A User's Guide to Current Statistics on the Employment of People WithDisabilitiesRichard Burkhauser, Andrew Houtenville, David WittenburgAbstractThis paper examines two fundamental questions related tomeasuring the employment outcomes of people withdisabilities. First, can a reasonable operational definition ofdisability be developed from current surveys that will enablepolicy makers to track the size and employment outcomes of that population? And if yes, are the findingssensitive to alternative definitions of disability and employment?Our findings are relevant to researchers and policy makers interested in understanding the changingemployment outcomes of people with disabilities over the past two decades. While we offer no firm conclusionabout the impact of the ADA or other disability policy changes (e.g., changes in social security disabilityprogram policy) on employment, we strongly argue that when theoretically appropriate populations withdisabilities are followed, and appropriate measures of their employment success are used, the employment ofpeople with disabilities fell in the 1990s.A copy of the full paper is available in Stapleton, D. and R. Burkhauser (2003). What is Causing the Decline inthe Employment of People with Disabilities: A Policy MysteryThe book can be ordered from the Upjohn Institute website.A research brief that summarizes the major findings of this article is available in PDF form on Cornell'swebsite (http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/extension/files/download/User%20Guide%20Brief.pdf). A text version isalso available from that same website(http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/extension/files/download/Users%20Guide%20Brief.txt).Other Publications by the AuthorsRichard Burkhauser Andrew Houtenville David Wittenburg Usage and reprints: Most publications may be downloaded free of charge from the web site and may be used and copiesmade for research, academic, policy or other non-commercial purposes. Proper attribution is required. Posting UI researchpapers on other websites is permitted subject to prior approval from the Urban Institute—contact publicaffairs@urban.org.If you are unable to access or print the PDF document please contact us or call the Publications Office at (202) 261-5687.Disclaimer: The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of publicconsideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, itstrustees, or its funders. Copyright of the written materials contained within the Urban Institute website is owned orcontrolled by the Urban Institute. Document date: May 01, 2002Released online: May 01, 2002Source: The Urban Institute, © 2012 | http://www.urban.org