The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #48556

Mary C. Daly, PhD, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, 101 Market Street, Mail Stop 1130, San Francisco, CA 94105 and Andrew J. Houtenville, PhD, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, Rm 106, Extension Building, Ithaca, NY 14853, (607) 255-5702, mary.daly@sf.frb.org.

Learning Objectives: In the 1980s and early 1990s, the employment rates people with and without disabilities followed the business cycle—rising in economic expansion and falling in economic recessions, however, during growth years of the 1990s, the employment rate of people with disabilities declined. This paper explores the hypothesis that the changes in the demographic composition of people with disabilities led to this decline in the employment of people with disabilities.

Methods: Data from National Health Interview Surveys, 1983-1996, and March Current Population Surveys, 1981-2001 are used to estimate annual employment rates of employment rates of people with disabilities using several definitions of disability (impairment, work limitation, activity limitation and severe work limitation) in various demographic subpopulations (severity of disability, gender, age, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment). Using weighted least squares, we use these annual estimates to estimate time trends and test whether the employment time trends of these demographic subpopulations and definitions of disability exhibit declining employment rates in the 1990s.

Findings: Preliminary findings suggest that regardless of how disability is defined and regardless of the data set used nearly all of the subpopulations exhibit statistically significant downward employment trends for people with disabilities in the 1990s. No subpopulation exhibits an upward trend.

Conclusions: Our findings imply that changes in demographic composition (as measured by the variables used in this study) are not causing the decline in employment exhibited by the entire population with disabilities, because a shift toward any subpopulations would have cause a decline in the employment rate.

Learning Objectives:

• In the 1980s and early 1990s, the employment rates people with and without disabilities followed the business cycle—rising in economic expansion and falling in economic recessions, however, during growth years of the 1990s, the employment rate of people with disabilities declined. This paper explores the hypothesis that the changes in the demographic composition of people with disabilities led to this decline in the employment of people with disabilities.

Keywords: Disability Policy, Economic Analysis

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.