Labor Force Participation Rates among Working-Age Individuals with Visual Impairments.

Not only do working-age individuals with visual impairments lag behind in their participation in the workforce (Zuckerman, 2004), but low vision and blindness-specific labor force participation data are in short supply when compared with the regularly published labor force data pertaining to the general U.S. population (Kelly, 2009). There is a need to investigate and establish current employment data pertaining to individuals with visual impairments in today's labor force. Employment data includes but is not limited to employment rates, unemployment rates, labor force participation rates, and rates of those people not in the labor force. There is also a need for this employment data that would be comparable with the general U.S. population. The present study analyzes four consecutive years of monthly labor force participation rates reported by the Current Population Survey that included nationally representative samples of the general U.S. population and nationally representative samples of the U.S. population with specifically identified disabilities. Visual impairment is one of the disabilities specifically included in the survey questionnaire. Monthly data in the Current Population Survey includes employment data pertaining to labor force participation rates, rates of people not in the labor force, employment rates, and unemployment rates. The unemployment rate only takes into account people who are jobless, looking for jobs, and available for work. The unemployment rate does not take into account people who are unemployed and not actively looking for work. Similarly, the employment rate is a tabulation of people who are employed and provides no data or points of reference pertaining to those "not in the labor force." People who are unemployed and not actively looking for work are classified as "not in the labor force." To be included in the labor force, the individual must be working or actively looking for work. The proportion of individuals working or actively looking for work comprise the labor force participation rate. The unemployment rate and the employment rate do not reveal the severity of the workforce participation problem among people with visual impairments in the same way that the labor force participation rate clearly demonstrates. The Current Population Survey statistic of interest in the present study, therefore, is the labor force participation rate. This statistic was considered both among the general (or overall) population of working-age U.S. civilians and the population of working-age U.S. civilians who specifically had a self-reported visual impairment. The value and use of labor force participation rates as means for analysis is underscored by the present study. Research questions The following research questions that comprise the present study were investigated through a secondary analysis of current population data. 1. During the four-year time period from 2009 to 2012, what is the labor force participation rate among all working-age (16 to 64 years of age) people in the U.S. civilian noninstitutional population and how does this number compare with the labor force participation rate among working-age individuals who are visually impaired in the U.S. civilian noninstitutional population during the same time period? 2. Taking a closer look, what are the yearly average labor force participation rates among working-age individuals when examined by gender during the 2009-2012 time frame? 3. How does the yearly average labor force participation rate from research question 1 change over the four-year time period from 2009 to 2012? Methods DATA SOURCE The Current Population Survey is a comprehensive source of employment data that are generated monthly by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The survey first included the series of disability-specific survey questions in 2009 and continues today. …