Early employment careers of people with disabilities in the National Child Development Study

To compare the early employment careers of people with disabilities and their non-disabled contemporaries.

The employment of 436 people with disabilities was investigated between the ages of 23 and 33. The sample were part of a continuing longitudinal study, the National Child Development Study (NCDS), of some 17,000 people born during one week in 1958 and living in England, Wales and Scotland. Cross-tabulations were carried out comparing the employment of people with disabilities and that of their non-disabled counterparts using SPSS for Windows.

Despite the majority of the sample not having difficulties with everyday activities people with disabilities were disadvantaged in terms of educational and vocational qualifications, employment rates and earnings. Those with physical disabilities fared better than the other disability groups in terms of employment and earnings, among this group men with 'below average' educational and vocational qualifications differing most from their non-disabled counterparts and women with 'above average' qualifications differing least.

Findings indicate the importance of educational and vocational qualifications for those with disabilities, for more emphasis on job retention, for measures against wage discrimination, and for job placement assistance for some groups of those with a disability.