Career Patterns of Adults with Autism Through Late Midlife

Little is known about the long-term careers of adults with autism. Here we report the employment patterns of adults with autism based on their engagement in distinct categories of employment (agency-based, supported, and competitive employment) from young adulthood through midlife. Persistent patterns of unemployment or unstable employment were also tracked across these life stages. The current study drew data from a longitudinal study of adults with autism and their families, and focused on those for whom at least four points of data were available on employment after high school exit across an average of 14 years (n=217 adults with autism; 155 with intellectual disability [ID], 62 without ID; average age of the autistic adults at their first available time point after high school exit was 26.23 (SD=7.14), range: 18-48; and, at their final available time point was 40.94 (SD=8.97), range: 25-68). Five mutually-exclusive career categories emerged from a consensus coding process: 1) Primarily unemployed (16% of the sample); 2) Primarily agency-based employment (48%); 3) Primarily supported employment (11%); 4) Primarily competitive employment (12%); and 5) Unstable employment (13%). Descriptive results suggest that adults with autism who do not have ID may be at particular risk for unemployment (23%) or unstable patterns of employment (20%), although nearly the same percentage had sustained competitive employment (37%), while those who had ID often had an agency support system that helped maintain engagement in work (64%). Our study can inform employment expectations and planning for adults with autism, their family members, and vocational and transition support staff.