Selected labor market factors and employment rates of individuals with disabilities from 1981 to 2002

For over two decades, the employment rate of individuals with disabilities has declined nationally. This period of decline, which occurred between 1980 and 2002, includes within its boundaries two landmark federal statutes, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. This research addressed five research questions that sought to find the interactions of those selected labor market factors that were likely to have had an impact on the employment rate of individuals with disabilities at a state level.; The relationship between state and federal minimum wages and the employment rates of individuals with and without disabilities was analyzed using a time series procedure. The relationship between wages and the application rates to the benefits programs of the Social Security Administration were analyzed in a second time series model. The third analysis added the state and federal ADA and FMLA legislation to the time series model to determine how these factors affected the employment rates of individuals with disabilities over and above the effects of minimum wages. The results indicated that while minimum wages affect both individuals with and without disabilities, the relationship was stronger for the non-disabled. No significant relationship was found between minimum wages and benefit application rates. The state and federal ADA and FMLA were significantly related to the decline in employment rates in the time period. The effects of the FMLA appear to have been more significant than the effects of the ADA.; Using a sample of 20 states, selected based on high and low employment rate variability, the groups were compared based on industry composition, population profiles, tax revenues, and spending on rehabilitation programs. The most significant predictors of employment rate stability were the percentage of the states' population with a disability, percentage of jobs in the government sector, per capita taxes, per capita spending, and the number of disability related state statutes.; The outcomes of these investigations provide insight into not only how these labor market factors have affected the employment rates of individuals with disabilities, but also how that relationship has changed over time.