Affiliations: Vocational Economics, Inc., Louisville, KY, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Gwendolyn Holland, Vocational Economics, Inc., 11933 Brinley Avenue, Louisville, KY 40243, USA. Tel.: +1 502 489 8130; Fax: +1 502 489 8160; E-mail: gwenh@vocecon.com
Note: [1] Presented at the Vocational Outcomes in Traumatic Brain Injury
International Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, April 2005.
Adapted from a presentation at the American Trial Lawyer’s Association
Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, July 2004, and from “Vocational
and Economic Considerations in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury”
in Handling the Brain Injury Case: A Legal and Medical Primer for
Lawyers, published by Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys.
Abstract: In 2000, the United States Census Bureau began the annual American Community Survey (ACS), which collects data on earnings and employment for persons with various types of impairment. One of the impairments is cognitive disability, defined as existing when a person has a condition lasting six months or more that results in difficulty learning, remembering, or concentrating. Individuals with such limitations are often defined as having mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). Persons with mild TBI often retain the ability to work competitively. Such individuals, however, typically earn less when employed year-round, full-time than do persons without disability and have lower levels of employment, resulting in reduced worklife expectancy. This article focuses on the effects of cognitive disability on earnings and employment. The ACS data are reported by gender and education level for those without disability or with cognitive disability. Employment levels are translated into worklife expectancies and the method of conversion through use of a joint probability of life, participation, and employment is examined.
Keywords: Disability, brain injury, earnings, employment, American Community Survey
