Disability Statistics from the U.S. 

Census Bureau in 2013/2014

Matthew Brault

Health and Disability Statistics Branch

December 11, 2013

Any views expressed are my own and do not necessarily 

represent those of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Disability Employment Tabulation

• Released March 2013 on American FactFinder

• Sponsored by the Department of Labor

– Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)

– Office of Federal Contracting Compliance Programs 

(OFCCP)

• 2008-2010 American Community Survey data

2
Disability Employment Tabulation

• 7 Table sets

1. Detailed occupations

2. EEO occupation groups

3. EEO job categories

4. Federal sector job groups

5. State and local gov’t job groups

6. Educational attainment by age

7. Employment status and earnings for detailed occupations

• Crossed by disability status, sex, race/ethnicity, and 

citizenship

• Nation, states, CBSAs, PUMAs, and county sets

3
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Janitors and building cleaners

Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

Cashiers

Retail salespersons

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

Secretaries and administrative assistants

Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides

Cooks

First-line supervisors of retail sales workers

Maids and housekeeping cleaners

Miscellaneous managers, including funeral service managers...

Stock clerks and order fillers

Customer service representatives

Construction laborers

Personal care aides

Elementary and middle school teachers

Other production workers, including semiconductor ...

Grounds maintenance workers

Childcare workers

Registered nurses

Number of workers Thousands

Common Occupations for People with a Disability

4
Occupations with High Prevalence of Disability

(of those with at least 20,000 workers)

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0 18.0

Cutting workers

Crossing guards

Motor vehicle operators, all other

Dishwashers

Models, demonstrators, and product promoters

Refuse and recyclable material collectors

Switchboard operators, including answering service

Personal care aides

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

Janitors and building cleaners

Door-to-door sales workers, news and street vendors, and ...

Ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers

Logging workers

Millwrights

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

Machine feeders and offbearers

Telephone operators

Packers and packagers, hand

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

Transportation attendants, except flight attendants

Percent

5
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8

Service workers, except protective

Administrative support workers

Sales workers

Management, business and financial

Other professional workers

Production operative workers

Construction and extractive craft workers

Transportation and material moving

Laborers and helpers

Installation, maintenance and repair craft

Unemployed

Protective service workers

Technicians

Science, engineering and computer

Healthcare practitioner professionals

Millions

Number of Workers with a Disability

by EEO Occupation Group

6
Earnings Distribution for Employed Population By Disability 

Status

33.7

17.9

14.1 14.1

11.9

4.1 4.1

21.9

16.0 14.7

16.7 16.0

6.6

8.0

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Less than

$15,000

$15,000 to

$24,999

$25,000 to

$34,999

$35,000 to

$49,999

$50,000 to

$74,999

$75,000 to

$99,999

$100,000 or

more

Percent

Earnings

With a disability

No disability

7
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Less than

$14,999

 $15,000

to $24,999

 $25,000

to $34,999

 $35,000

to $49,999

 $50,000

to $74,999

 $75,000

to $99,999 $100,000

or more

Earnings for Janitors, by Disability Status

With a disability No Disability

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Less than

$14,999

 $15,000

to $24,999

 $25,000

to $34,999

 $35,000

to $49,999

 $50,000

to $74,999

 $75,000

to $99,999 $100,000

or more

Earnings for Dishwashers, by Disability Status

With a disability No Disability

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Less than

$14,999

 $15,000

to $24,999

 $25,000

to $34,999

 $35,000

to $49,999

 $50,000

to $74,999

 $75,000

to $99,999 $100,000

or more

Earnings for Cashiers, by Disability Status

With a disability No Disability

8
American Community Survey 

(ACS)

• Recent Releases 

in American 

FactFinder

– 2012 1-year 

estimates 

(Sept. 2013)

– 2010-2012 

3-year estimates 

(Nov. 2013)

9
American Community Survey 

(ACS)

• First 5-year estimates of disability status

– Scheduled to be released on Dec. 17th 2013

– All counties, places, census tracts

– Block group data available (not on 

FactFinder)

– Not comparable with Census 2000

• Report about Working with a Disability

10
Small Area Disability Estimates

• Many disability topics not covered by the 

American Community Survey

• More comprehensive measure of disability 

in Survey of Income and Program 

Participation

• Census Bureau investigating methods for 

combining the 2 sources

11
Bivariate Area Level Model

• Direct estimates from each survey for 

geographies

• Auxiliary data as model predictors

– SSA Disability Insurance Programs (DI/SSI)

• State-level model currently

12
Regression Projections Method

• Large Survey, Less Detail: 

– Enough sample for direct estimates for 

areas/domains

– Lacks specific questions of interest

• Smaller Survey, More Detail:

– Inadequate sample for many areas/domains

– Contains specific question of interest

• Need set of common variables from both 

surveys, preferably related to the specific 

question of interest

– ACS Questions available on SIPP Questionnaire

• Generates synthetic values

13
SIPP 2.0

• No more SIPP (as we know it)

• Event History Calendar

– 1-year retrospective interview

• Disability Questions

– Core 6 ACS questions

– Developmental delays (age <5)

– Difficulty playing with other children, limitations 

with school work (5-14)

– Employment difficulties (15+)

• Goes into the field in 2014

14
SIPP SSA Supplement

• Social Security Administration Sponsored

• Topics:

– Retirement and Pensions

– Marital history

– Work disability history

– Adult and child functional limitations

• Telephone interview

• Modifications/improvements

15
Links

American Community Survey Statistics

http://factfinder2.census.gov/

http://www.census.gov/acs/www/data_documentation/summary_file/

Disability Employment Tabulation

http://www.census.gov/people/disabilityemptab/

Disability Webpage at Census.gov

http://www.census.gov/people/disability/
Thank You

Matthew Brault

Health and Disability Statistics Branch

301-763-5637

matthew.w.brault@census.gov

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