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May  2003, Vol. 126, No.5

Disability and the characteristics of employment

Edward H. Yelin and Laura Trupin

This article examines the work situation of persons with disabilities—their employment rates, the strength of their connection to the labor force, the terms with which they are hired, and the specific conditions of their jobs. The article is based on an analysis of the California Work and Health Survey, a telephone survey designed to be representative of the adult population in California. The survey, conducted annually for 3 years beginning in 1998, combines the features of Federal labor market surveys, such as the Current Population Survey and its supplements, with health surveys like the National Health Interview Survey, thereby allowing the two kinds of information to be integrated into a single data source.

The California Work and Health Survey was initiated in June 1998 with 1,771 respondents, interviewed in English or Spanish. Respondents were selected from a random digit dialing sample of Californians aged 18 or older, with oversamples of person with disabilities, African-Americans, and Asians and Pacific Islanders. The 1999 survey included interviews with 2,040 adults in the State, of whom 909 were part of the 1998 survey and another 1,131 were new respondents, including oversamples of African-Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, persons with disabilities, and persons aged 45 to 70 years. The 2000 survey included interviews with 2,168 California adults, of whom 627 were part of the 1998 and 1999 surveys, 638 were part of the 1999 survey alone, and another 903 were new respondents. The new respondents included oversamples of African-Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics. In what follows, we analyze responses from all participants between the ages of 18 and 64 who were interviewed in 1999, as well as those who were added to the survey in 2000: a total of 2,417 individuals.

This excerpt is from an article published in the May 2003 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.

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Work shifts and disability: a national view—Sept. 2002.
Persons with disabilities: Labor market activity, 1994.—Sep. 1998.
Persons with disabilities: Demographic, income, and health care characteristics, 1993.—Sep. 1998.
Labor force trends of persons with and without disabilities.—Oct. 1994.