Estimating the Intersecting Labor Market Disparities for Justice-Impacted Individuals with Disabilities: Evidence...

Individuals with disabilities and people with a history of justice interaction each face substantial barriers to employment. These populations also significantly overlap, with two-thirds of individuals in federal or state prisons reporting at least one disability. Studies qualitatively explore how justice-impacted individuals with disabilities (JIID) face compounded labor market disadvantages, often shaped by race and gender. However, there has been little effort to quantify this disadvantage robustly. Our study addresses this gap by analyzing data from two national datasets, the Rehabilitation Services Administration Case Service Report (RSA-911) and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), to examine employment outcomes of JIID and non-JIID individuals, stratified by race and gender. Consistent with prior research, our findings suggest that over one fourth (26%) of people with disabilities experience some type of justice interaction. In terms of employment, using the NSDUH data, we found that 43% of justice-impacted individuals with disabilities were employed, compared with 51% of non-justice-impacted individuals with disabilities. Analysis from both the RSA-911 and the NSDUH indicate that JIID employment rates vary by gender and race/ethnicity, with JIID women having lower rates than men, and Black JIID having the lowest employment rates of any racial/ethnic subgroup. Overall, our findings underscore that JIID are far from a homogeneous group, particularly with respect to employment, highlighting the need for more intersectional research and targeted policies that account for subgroup differences.