Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Employment Policy

Background:U.S. disability employment policy has evolved over the past three decades to emphasize the importance of socially integrated, community-based jobs that pay minimum wage or more for people with disabilities (Schneider & Sherlock, 2017; Gardiner, 2018). Despite this continuing evolution and emphasis, people with disabilities are significantly less likely to be employed, relative to people without disabilities. About 7.5 million people with disabilities age 16 and over are employed -- which is 22.5 percent of people with disabilities. In comparison, 60.3 percent of their peers without disabilities are employed. Unemployment is much higher among people with disabilities than among people without disabilities, and people with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to work part-time than people without disabilities (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024).The public sector plays a key role in increasing disability employment. The federal government is a leader in hiring people with disabilities through the Schedule A hiring authority (Office of Personnel Management, 2024). Historically, numerous presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Joe Biden issued executive orders to promote the hiring of people with disabilities (Congressional Research Service, 2022). As part of this tradition, on January 3, 2017, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a final rule to amend regulations related to Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This rule sets the goal of having a 12% representation rate for people with disabilities (EEOC, 2017). However, despite increased federal hiring of people with disabilities resulting from this policy, retention rates of employees with disabilities are significantly lower than that of employees without disabilities, leaving a limited impact on long-term federal employment of people with disabilities (GAO, 2020). Furthermore, while multiple initiatives and policy recommendations for the employment of people with disabilities at state and local government agencies (Council of State Governments, 2022; National Conference of State Legislatures, 2023) show promise, their impact on disability employment has yet to be shown with evidence and measurable outcomes. Finally, the rise of telework since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic may enable greater numbers of people with disabilities to find employment (Ameri et al., 2023).Employment outcomes vary significantly by type and severity of disability, gender, age, race and ethnicity, and educational attainment among people with disabilities. As a result of lower rates of employment, people with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty than people without disabilities (National Council on Disability, 2017).Employment and Social Security Administration (SSA) disability benefits mitigate the effects of poverty for families including people with disabilities (Messel &Trenkamp, 2022), but policies can create disincentives (Department of Labor, 2019) and shape employment decisions of people with disabilities in unintended ways. SSA disability benefits include Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for eligible individuals with low incomes and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for eligible people with prior work histories. While work incentives for these programs encourage employment among beneficiaries with disabilities, the incentives are complex and underutilized (SSA, 2023) and few beneficiaries return to work (Liu & Stapleton, 2010).There are other barriers to employment for people with a disability – each of which is potentially shaped by federal, state, and local policies. Lack of transportation, accessible housing, medical and behavioral health care, home and community-based long-term services and supports, and the existence of workplace barriers create formidable challenges to achieving employment goals (Ross, 2017; Baker et al., 2018). Research on policies related to these social determinants of employment outcomes may illuminate potential policy innovations that purposefully promote more positive employment outcomes of people with disabilities. The goal of this particular RRTC is to contribute to knowledge regarding the effect of Federal, State, and local public policies and programs on employment of people with disabilities.References:Ameri, M., Kruse, D., Park, S., Rodgers, Y., & Schur, L. (2023). Telework during the Pandemic: Patterns, Challenges, and Opportunities for People with Disabilities. Disability and Health Journal. Volume 16, Issue 2.Baker, P. M., Linden, M. A., LaForce, S. S., Rutledge, J., & Goughnour, K. P. (2018). Barriers to employment participation of individuals with disabilities: addressing the impact of employer (mis) perception and policy. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(5), 657-675.Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024). Persons with a disability: Labor force characteristics-2023. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/disabl.pdf.Congressional Research Service (2022). Federal Hiring of Persons with Disabilities. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47316.Council of State Governments, (2022). The State as a Model Employer of People with Disabilities. https://seed.csg.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Accessible-Final_SAME_S… of Labor (2019). Removing Barriers and Disincentives to Meaningful Employment for People with Disabilities Receiving Social Security Benefits. https://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/date/Social_Security_Reform_Recommendat… Employment Opportunity Commission (2017). “Affirmative Action for Individuals with Disabilities in Federal Employment,” 82 Federal Register 654, January 3. https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/questions-answers-eeocs-final-rule-a…, Disability Employment: Hiring Has Increased but Actions Needed to Assess Retention, Training, and Reasonable Accommodation Efforts, GAO-20-384, June 11, 2020, p. 2. https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-384.pdf.Gardiner, F. (2018). Towards a Sociological Understanding of Employment Policy Regarding People with Disabilities. Sociological Inquiry.Liu, S. & Stapleton, D. (2010). How Many SSDI Beneficiaries Leave the Rolls for Work? More Than You Might Think. Mathematica Policy Research Disability Policy Research Brief 10-01. Washington, DC.Messel, M. & Trenkamp, B. (2022). Characteristics of Noninstitutionalized DI and SSI Program Participants, 2013 Update. Social Security Bulletin. https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/rsnotes/rsn2022-01.html.National Conference of State Legislatures (2023). Trends in Disability Employment Legislation. https://www.ncsl.org/labor-and-employment/trends-in-disability-employme… Council on Disability (2017). National Disability Policy: A Progress Report. https://www.ncd.gov/report/national-disability-policy-a-progress-report… of Personnel Management, Disability Employment (2024). https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/disability-employment/hiring/…, M. (2017). People with disabilities are disproportionately among the out-of-work. Brookings Institute. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/people-with-disabilities-are-disprop…, J. (2019). Employment rates for people with and without disabilities. DataNote Series, Data Note 63. University of Massachusetts Boston, Institute for Community Inclusion.Schneider, J.A., and Sherlock, C. (2017). Employment Policy for People with Disabilities: Current and Future Directions. https://www.stage.sourceamerica.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/social-… Security Administration (2023). The Red Book – A Guide to Work Incentives. https://www.ssa.gov/redbook/.U.S. Census Bureau (2019). Do people with disabilities earn equal pay? https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/03/do-people-with-disabilit…. Priority - RRTC on Employment Policy:The Administrator of the Administration for Community Living establishes a priority for an RRTC on Employment Policy. The purpose of the RRTC on Employment Policy (RRTC-EP) is to contribute to improved employment outcomes of people with disabilities by investigating the impact of Federal, State, or local public policies and programs on those outcomes. The desired outcome of this investment is new knowledge about the effect of new or existing policies on employment outcomes of people with disabilities. The RRTC must identify targeted research questions or hypotheses related to specific policies or policy types and propose rigorous research methodologies to address them. In addition to the policy research requirements described in this paragraph, the RRTC must contribute to improvements in the employment outcomes of people with disabilities by:(a) Focusing its research and related activities on people with disabilities as a group or on people in specific disability or sociodemographic subpopulations of people with disabilities.(b) Conducting a comprehensive review of the literature focused on Federal, State, or local public policies or potential policies related to recent factors that may be associated with employment outcomes among people with disabilities. These may include but are not limited to recent or emerging policies focused on telework, provision and use of assistive technology, use of artificial intelligence in suitable employment settings, and flexible work schedules.(c) Developing a set of research-based recommendations for policymakers to further improve public sector employment for people with disabilities.(d) Focusing its research on a specific stage or stages of research. If the RRTC is to conduct research that can be categorized under more than one stage, including research that progresses from one stage to another, those stages must be clearly specified and justified. These stages: exploration and discovery, intervention development, intervention efficacy, and scale-up evaluation, are defined on ACL’s website. Applicants must justify the need and rationale for research at the proposed stage or stages and describe fully an appropriate methodology or methodologies for the proposed research.(e) Serving as a national resource center on policies and policy topics that impact employment outcomes of individuals with disabilities.(f) Increasing incorporation of research findings from the RRTC into practice or policy by:(1) Including people with disabilities in the planning and conduct of its research, training, dissemination, and technical assistance activities;(2) Collaborating with employers, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholder groups to develop, evaluate, or implement strategies to increase use of research findings;(3) Conducting training and dissemination activities to facilitate the utilization of research findings by people with disabilities, policymakers, and employers;(4) Providing technical assistance to people with disabilities, policymakers, employers, and other stakeholders to facilitate use of information produced by the RRTC’s research;(5) Collaborating and sharing information with other agencies across the Federal government. These agencies may include but are not limited to the Social Security Administration, the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), and ACL’s Administration on Disabilities (ACL / AOD); and (6) Coordinating on research projects of mutual interest with relevant NIDILRR-funded projects as identified by the NIDILRR Project Officer. These may include but are not limited to knowledge translation grantees and other grantees conducting disability employment research.(7) Conducting a state-of-the-science conference on employment policy in the fourth year of the grant, and publishing a comprehensive report on the outcomes of the conference at the beginning of the fifth year of the grant.