A Survey of Community Employment Placements: Where Are Youth and Adults with Disabilities Working?

Abstract

This article describes the results of a national survey of high school transition and adult supported employment programs to identify community employment placements for individuals with disabilities. We designed the survey to examine (a) numbers of placements within specific types of employment, (b) differences in placements as a function of specific variables (i.e., high school versus adult programs, urban versus rural locations), and (c) emergence of new markets for job placement. Results from 7,553 placements indicated that the most frequent category for both high school transition and adult supported employment programs was food and beverage preparation services. We found statistically significant differences in 5 of 29 job categories as a function of youth/adult or urban/rural variables. Emerging markets for job placements included tourism, casino jobs, and others. We discuss implications of these data in relation to future research and practice in job placement.

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