Demographic, income, and health care characteristics,1993

Employment of persons with disabilities is a key concern of a number of existing and proposed programs and policies, as well as the focus of substantial current research. While the article by Thomas W. Hale, Howard V. Hayghe, and John M. McNeil (pages 3–12 in this issue) examines employment patterns and other characteristics by disability status, this article analyzes demographic, income, and health care characteristics of working-age persons (aged 15 to 64) with and without disabilities. Such characteristics may provide insights into the potential barriers to employment faced by persons with disabilities (related to their level of education, for example); they also may help explain the role of employment in personal and household income, poverty status, and access to health insurance. Hale and his coauthors show that persons with disabilities, particularly those with severe disabilities, have both lower employment rates and lower earnings than do those without disabilities. As will be seen, persons with disabilities differ in other characteristics as well—some of which stem from their labor market difficulties, and others that actually contribute to such difficulties. In particular, persons with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty because income from disability benefits and other nonemployment income generally do not make up for the lack of employment inPersons with Disabilities Persons with Disabilities