Predicting weekly earning for consumers with severe disabilities: implications for welfare reform and vocational...

This 1999 research analyzed selected descriptive variables for consumers with significant disabilities, who were successfully employed. The goal was to investigate employment outcomes for consumers whose cases were closed as successfully employed. Human capital theory provided the theoretical underpinnings for evaluating the findings. This study empirically assessed factors which contributed to increased weekly earnings for consumers of state vocational rehabilitation services with severe disabilities. The variables included in this study were weekly earnings at closure, correlated with year last employed, highest grade completed, and birth year. The study found that 17.2% of variability in weekly earnings of the significantly disabled consumers can be predicted by these variables. Education, age, and work experience were found to be predictors of potential earning power. These findings can be used to provide the foundation for the development of reliable program evaluation as well as clinical interventions. This study links outcomes to the services provided. It further provides the data necessary to support policy development in the areas of rehabilitation and welfare reform.