Affiliations: Mathematica Policy Research, Washington, DC, USA | Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., Princeton, NJ, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: David Stapleton, Mathematica Policy Research, 600 Maryland Ave., SW, Suite 550, Washington, DC 20024, USA. Tel.: +1 202 484 4224; Fax: +1 202 863 1763; E-mail: dstapleton@mathematica-mpr.com
Abstract: Despite the important role that state vocational rehabilitation (VR)agencies play in promoting employment for people with disabilities,little is known about how their exits after service receipt vary withindividual characteristics and across states compared to the general population with disabilities. We used fiscal year 2007 RSA administrative data and American Community Survey public use files to calculate the ratio of the number of individuals exiting VR after service receipt to the estimated number of working-age people with disabilities in 2007 at the national and state levels and the ratios for demographic, educational, and disability subgroups. Our results show that 1.3 of every 100 working-age adults with a disability in the household population exited a VR agency after receiving services, with state variation ranging from 0.6 percent in Washington and Puerto Rico to 4.0 percent in Vermont. We also found large differences across subgroups – differences that are much larger in some states than in others. These disparities raise questions about why some groups are more likely to complete VR services than others and whether VR agencies should systematically target more resources to certain groups. Further research is needed to better understand how well people with disabilities complete VR agency services.
Keywords: State vocational rehabilitation agencies, working-age people with disabilities, disability prevalence for demographic groups, vocational rehabilitation service closures for demographic groups
