Research on employment for people with disabilities: gaps remain in employment and pay

USA TODAY highlighted research presented by Professor Kevin F. Hallock, ICS Director, at the October 22nd-23rd 2013 State of the Science Conference, Innovative Research on Employer Practices: Improving Employment for People with Disabilities. Held in Washington, D.C., the conference profiled the many research projects conducted over the past two years by the Employer Practices Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (EP-RRTC) at Cornell University ILR School's Employment and Disability Institute. Many high level policy makers and experts in the field of disability participated in the conference and served as commentators on the research.

Hallock is lead author of two different research studies on employment outcomes for people with disabilities, both featured at this State of the Science Conference. One preliminary result from this research, and reported in the USA TODAY story -- full-time male workers with disabilities are paid about 10% less in wages and salary than their non-disabled peers, even after controlling for important pay factors such as industry, occupation and region, among others. And, if the definition of pay is broadened to capture benefits, the pay gap shrinks just two percentage points, to 8%.

For more on the conference see:
ILR News Center: Research by Employment and Disability Institute being shared at conference

Video on Innovative Research on Employer Practices: Improving Employment for People with Disabilities

See also: Kevin Hallock's October workspan column and his December column, and the full USA TODAY story: "Study: Workers with disabilities paid 10% less" by Jayna Omaye, Medill News Service, posted October 23, 2013.

The conference and research presented therein is funded to Cornell University by the U.S. Department of Education National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) for a Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Employer Practices Related to Employment Outcomes among Individuals with Disabilities (grant #H133B100017). The contents of this conference do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government (Edgar, 75.620 (b)).